Inevitable
by Daedalos
Summary: ON HOLD Between his secret being on the line, his enemies finding a whole new way to mess with his life, and now confusing happenings with Sam, Danny's life can't take any more complications. But how long will it be until the inevitable happens? DxS
1. Chapter 1

**Inevitable**

**Chapter 1**

Yeah, to anyone else, Danny Fenton seemed like the typical, shy, fifteen-year-old. He was unpopular, seemingly weak, and he wasn't someone you would think twice about. Which was just the way he liked it. Of course, no one would associate the aforementioned character traits with one Danny _Phantom. _Fenton and Phantom were what anyone would consider polar opposites. Phantom was popular, able-bodied, and was the talk of the town. Yes, it seemed Danny Fenton had them all fooled. But nothing stays hidden forever, and with Danny's luck, it was a real miracle that the whole town of Amity Park wasn't trying to hunt him down. Things were going to change, whether Danny was ready, or not.

Danny's..extra-curriculars had a way of showing themselves in his daily life. Unavoidable little hints to his identity, most of them easily hidden. His "unexplained" strength could be hidden by baggy clothes and purposeful failing of one's gym class. His many scars--a result of a few unexpected upgrades on Skulker's part, and other unfortunately messy battles--were also relatively well-hidden by his clothes, or he could even throw in the odd explanation. But the things he couldn't hide--his reflexes, his apparent need to do good everywhere and help anyone and everyone in need--were slowly but surely beginning to display themselves in his day-to-day life.

It all started one Tuesday morning, as Danny, Sam, and Tucker were making their way out of their third period class and towards the only thing standing between the trio and lunch--Gym class. As Tucker and Sam chatted aimlessly as they waited for Danny to put his History books away, Danny heard the unmistakeably loud and cocky steps coming towards him. He sighed and shut his locker, knowing it better not to press his luck when it came to leaving locker doors opened when Dash was near. Sam and Tucker noticed as well soon and the three sent each other knowing looks before Danny began to wonder why he had to put up with this nearly every day. Dash, noticing his 'opponent' was caught off-guard in a state of day-dreaming, thrust Danny up off his feet and pressed him with his front to the locker doors. Or attempted to.

Big mistake.

Danny's shocking reflexes instantly took over, and in a few quick and smooth twisting movements, Dash was spun away from Danny and thrown forcefully into the lockers across the hall--just as Mr. Lancer arrived at the scene to see the look of shock, fear, and was that, self-loathing on the student's face? Regardless, the balding teacher decided he should diffuse the sutuation before it got out of hand--until he realized there was nothing left to diffuse. A crowd stood in awe as they regarded one more-panicky-by-the-second Danny Fenton look around as if to say "Nobody saw that, right?" and one Dash Baxter remain nearly unconcious across the hall. It was a surprise, to say the very least.

"Mr. Fenton!" Mr. Lancer's voice roared over the silence that had ensued.

The panicking student's gaze finally rested on the furious teacher. He gulped audibly, his only thoughts along the lines of _"Oh, crap.."_

**A/N: Well, there ya have it. The first chapter of my first story. Feedback is greatly appreciated, but just knowing someone has read it would be fine!**


	2. Chapter 2

Inevitable

Chapter 2

"Mind explaining to me EXACTLY why you felt the need to beat up our star quarterback?" Mr. Lancer bellowed, his voice echoing off the walls of the currently empty English classroom.

Or nearly empty

Danny sat at one of the desks in the front row, staring down at the many cracks and doodles on the desktop in front of him. He didn't even offer one of his trademarks witty remarks. In truth, Mr. Lancer had in fact seen the whole fight, if you could even call it that, including the beginning, when an unprovoked Dash had decided to thrust Danny face-first into the locker in front of him. But he was surprised and softened up when the student didn't even rush to defend his innocence. Mr. Lancer really couldn't care less about the fact that Dash's current state would probably take him out of the football game that night. What really puzzled the educator was HOW he had managed to put him in such a state. Sure, he had been right there, seen the whole thing, but his brain refused to let him comprehend how the seemingly scrawny boy had managed to do what he had seen him do.

But the strangest part of it all, was not what he had done, but the fact that it had all seemed so easy and practiced, as if it were only reflexes. What also came as a shock was that he seemed to hate himself for what he had done, despite the cheering that had errupted as the youngest Fenton had marched his way to the classroom. Nothing seemed to fit. So in order to get the answers he needed, he tried a different approach.

"Mr. Fenton," he began in a nicer voice. The student lifted his gaze,"in truth, the fact that Mr. Baxter is the star quarterback does not really concern me. In fact, I saw what happenned, all of it. He was unprovoked, and you were only defending yourself. But what intrigues me, and everyone else, I'm sure, is that if you were able to deal with Mr. Baxter so easily, why have you put up with his excessive bullying all this time? Now I don't support violence as an answer in any way, but I know this has been a problem for a while, and nothing has really been done about it. Why..?" Mr. Lancer was at a loss for words. He still couldn't believe he was having this conversation with _Danny Fenton_. He sighed, and just as he was about to give up and send him on his way, the student spoke.

"How bad is it? I mean...he's not, like, gonna have to go to the hospital, right? He's okay?" Danny fidgeted with his hands on the desk as he spoke. Mr. Lancer still couldn't speak, especially after this development. He was worried about Dash? Had he heard right? The educator was baffled.

"I spoke to the nurse. No concussion," and here he noticed an extreme relief show on Danny's face,"but he won't be playing in the game tonight." The student had no reaction to this, he'd been expecting that much. Mr. Lancer decided that despite all the questions he had, he wasn't going to get any answers. Or truthful ones, anyway.

"Now, I know that your actions were in self-defence, and there wasn't really much else you could have done, but I have to give you some sort of punishment, or the school board will have my head for letting the student who took their precious quarterback out of a game off scott-free, so see me in detention every afternoon this week."

Danny looked up with disbelieving eyes, but took the teachers expression as permission and shuffled out the door without asking questions.

By the time Danny had made it back to the gym, everyone was already on their way out, so he waited impatiently by Tucker's locker, where he knew they'd go first. He ignored the looks sent his way as students poored out of their fourth period classrooms. Obviously, news had gotten around fast. Sam spotted him and rushed over through the crowd.

"Where's Tucker?" he asked as soon as she made it up to him.

"Idiot brought his P.D.A. into gym again. Miss Tetslaff's giving him 'his own personal training session.' Don't think he'll be joining us for lunch," she replied, a smirk appearing on her lips at the thought of the techno-geek finally getting in shape.

"Mind if we skip lunch? I don't really feel like eating. Or getting gawked at like some animal on display!" He added the last part loud enough for those around him to hear as they averted their gaze and rushed along to lunch.

"Sure, I'm not too hungry anyway. Let's go outside," she said, and with that, they made their way through the crowd once again, toward the front door.

Once they were outside, and away from everyone, they went around the side of the building and sat down. It was somewhere the trio would sometimes go when they needed some privacy to talk about the latest ghost troubles during school.

"So what did Lancer say? Are you in deep trouble for damaging their 'precious star quarterback?" Sam said once they were seated along the wall.

"I think he was just a lot more curious to how I was able to damage their 'precious star quarterback'. I think he, and everyone else, is suspicious. Ugh, I'm such an idiot! I should have just let him hit me! Stupid reflexes.." he replied, his dour mood not improving in the least.

"Hey! I'd say it's about time he got what was coming. And relax, people are suspicious, but they have no idea what they're suspicious _about_. You've got nothing to worry about. Your own_ parents_ haven't figured it out yet, and they're ghost _hunters._ No one will figure it out," she comforted, her hand on his shoulder. She flashed him a sympathetic smile. He smiled back, feeling better. "Look, if worse comes to worse, and someone figures things out, we deal with it _then_. All we can do is take it as it comes at us. We've gotten this far, but despite what happens, we need to learn to relax and enjoy ourselves as much as we can, while things are good like this. We have to trust that everything will turn out O.K. Because it will. No matter what, you know you'll always have Tucker and I. We're not going anywhere," she smiled at him again and gave him a hug. He greatfully hugged her back.

They got up as they heard the warning bell ring and began to make their way back to class. "So what's the damage for costing the school a win in football?" she chatted casually as they walked.

"That's the strange part. Lancer didn't seem too mad, just surprised. He said he saw the whole thing, and he thinks I shouldn't be punished at all, but he had do something or he'd be in deep trouble for letting me go, so he gave me detention every night this week. I'd say he was pretty fair, considering," he replied, still surprised.

Sam seemed surprised, too, but didn't say anything, and they made their way to their fifth period.

**A/N: K, I know it's not that much longer, but I have to go now and I don't wanna leave anyone hanging 'till tonight, when I write more, so I'll give you this much for tonight, and if I finish my report tonight and have enough time, I'll give you guys the next one, K? I wish it could be longer, but I really have no time, so I figured you'd like it better this way than having to wait, right? Anyways, thanks to everyone who reviewed on my first ever story, you've been a huge help, and **_**please**_** don't hesitate to point out any corrections! I appreciate helpful criticism!**


	3. Chapter 3

Inevitable

Chapter 3

So the rest of the school day went by uneventfully. None of the jocks went near Danny, considering his newly acquired reputation, and the trio walked over to Danny's house after school. When they arrived at the front door, Danny motioned for them to be quiet. He hadn't stuck around long enough in Mr. Lancer's classroom to find out if he'd be calling his parents, so Danny wanted to try to sneak by his parents in case they knew anything.

But the three were greeted by an empty house. Puzzled, they made their way to the kitchen. On the fridge door, someone had hung a note:

_Danny,_

_Your father and I have headed over to that big ghost hunting superstore a couple of towns over._

_The drive takes about three hours, and knowing your father and the amount of time he'll want to_

_spend there, we probably won't be home until past midnight. I'll call the house at 10:00 to_

_make sure you're home by curfew. As you know, your sister is still at her Math and Science_

_program in Washington, so we're trusting you to behave responsibly._

_Lots of love,_

_Mom_

_P.S. Yes, we got a call from Mr. Lancer earlier. We'll speak to you about that tomorrow, but_

_he told us that you acted only in self-defence. You're not in trouble!_

Danny sighed and crumpled up the note with his hand before throwing it in the trash can.

"Well, that's convenient," Tucker remarked optimistically.

"How so?" Danny wondered.

"Well, your parents are going to call to make sure you're in by curfew, but how are they supposed to know if we're _out_ by curfew?" He explained.

"Ah, gotta love techincalities," Sam said, smiling.

"Well, this frees up a lot of time explaining. Wanna get working on our English reports?" Danny said moving towards the fridge, this time to open it. He pulled out three cans of pop and tossed them over his shoulder without looking. Both his friends caught them skillfully, having known from experience what Danny was going to do.

"Yeah, I'm doing mine on the Black Plague." Sam added enthusiastically.

"Uh, why doesn't that surprise me?" Danny replied with a smirk. Sam smiled back and they began to make their way up the stairs, leaving Tucker rummaging through the fridge for his "four o'clock feeding."

Two hours later found Tucker sleeping on the floor on his back next to Danny's bed, his book opened next to his face, Sam on the bed, reading a history book on her stomach with her feet pointing up, and Danny sitting at the computer chair, researching and typing up his report.

The beeping of his P.D.A. brought Tucker back from his dreams. He reached down and pulled it up to stare at it while his mind attempted to process the words written on the screen.

"Oh, it's my turn to type on the computer, Danny," he slurred, still wiping the sleep from his eyes.

"Yepp, just a sec, lemme save it." Danny replied as he clicked around the screen with his mouse. Finally, he got up, and Tucker took his place at the chair.

Danny then went to sit on the bed, next to Sam, who hadn't looked up from her book even once during the exchange.

"Learning anything new about the Plague, Sam?" he asked, more out of boredom than anything. All that he had left to do was finish typing everything up, which he could do later that night after his friends left.

"Not really, I--" just then, she was cut off as she noticed the familiar whisp of blue that passed from Danny's lips.

He sighed and stood up. They heard a rumbling noise outside just as Danny transformed.

"Who is it this time?" Tucker, who had turned around to see what was going on, asked.

"I'm betting on either the Box Ghost, or Technus," Danny said thoughtfully, then added, "or Skulker. Haven't seen him around in a while. He's gotta be planning something."

Both friends nodded in agreement as Danny grabbed them by their hands and prepared to shoot through the ceiling to see who was bothering them this time.

"Oh, and just for the record," Tucker began as they floated through the ceiling, "this doesn't count for my turn on the computer."

"Yeah, yeah," Danny replied as they landed on the roof of the Op-Center. Sure enough, Skulker was wreaking havoc yet again on the citizens of Amity Park, conveniently right outside Danny's house. Just as the three were assessing the situation, Tucker's phone rang. He looked at the caller I.D. before sighing and bringing the phone to his ear.

"Hi mom...No, we're almost done...What? Why?...Oh, heh, you knew about that?...Oops...Fine, I guess I'll be right over...Yeah, bye." He hung up, sighing. Then, he turned to adress his friends who were still mostly focused on the scene below, "I gotta go home. Apparently, my mom knows about how late I was up on the computer last night, so my curfew'd being changed to 6 o'clock for the next couple weeks," he finished dejectedly.

"Bummer," Danny and Sam said in unison, not even noticing the fact that they were talking in sync.

"Think you guys can handle him? Or do you want me to stick around a bit longer?" Tucker asked.

"I'd say we can handle ol' High and Mighty over here, right Sam?" He turned grinning at her. She smiled back. Tucker sighed at his friends clueless behaviour and began making his way towards that stairs to the door, before he stopped, remembering something, "Oh, Dan? Think you could send me what I typed up so far when you get done with him?"

"Sure thing Tuck," he replied, redirecting his attention to the armored ghost below.

"Thermos?" Sam asked as soon as Tucker had left.

"Got it. Hey, after this, you wanna watch a movie? You're done yours, and all I gotta do is type up the ending to mine." Danny said as he floated just above her, preparing to fly down and beat the crap out of anyone willing to get between him and his free time.

"Umm, sure." Sam replied as she leaned over the edge of the railing to keep an eye on the fight, to make sure Danny didn't encounter any problems.

A few moments later found Skulker slammed into a wall, a smirking Danny hovering overhead, preparing to suck him into the thermos.

"Enjoy your victory while you can whelp, for this is only part one of my plan," Skulker said as he was engulfed in the blue light.

"Wow, you actually have a plan? This, I'd like to see," Danny replied, making his way back up to Sam, who now sat with her feet dangling over the scene below.

Danny picked her up without warning and phased her back down to the living room, in front of the T.V., ignoring her shouts of protest. He dropped her on one end of the couch, and then hovered a few feet above the spot next to her, transforming back as he fell into his seat.

"So, whatcha wanna watch?" He asked, draping an arm around her shoulder as if he hadn't just picked her up and brought her through floors and ceilings against her will. She teasingly pushed him away and got up, walking up to the shelf above the television to search for a movie.

"Umm, not sure," she replied. Then her expression changed to one of surprise, "Oh! I completely forgot you had this movie," she said as she turned around holding D.V.D edition of _The Shining_. "Can we watch it?"

"Sure," Danny replied when she had already turned around to put the disk in. He smiled at the scene before him of the excited goth practically skipping back to her seat.

She fell into her spot next to Danny and he draped his arm over her shoulder again. No, the two weren't "dating" (though there were countless rumors). While the trio had remained tight, Sam and Danny had become even closer. They weren't as uncomfortable and awkward around each other any more, both silently deciding that if they couldn't admit their feelings, they could live with being friends, and very close ones at that. They held hands and hugged almost every day. In fact, the only thing keeping everyone from believing the two to be dating (though they still had their suspicions) were their shouts in retaliation of "He's/She's not my boyfriend/girlfriend!" whenever anyone would imply that they were dating.

A little past midnight, and the two were sound asleep. They didn't even hear the fumbling noise of keys at the door as someone desperately tried to get in out of the December weather. As the door finally burst opened, Maddie and Jack Fenton stepped inside, dropping the bags on the floor. Maddie reached over to turn on the light but stopped as she noticed that the T.V. was still on, and then the two sleeping figures on the couch. She lifted a hand to silence her husband and moved around the couch to view the scene.

"Aww, Jack, look,"her husband shuffled around he couch to see what was keeping her,"isn't that adorable?"

But Jack only smirked, "Let's see him try to convince us they're not dating _now,_" he said triumphantly.

**A/N: So? I don't know how long it is exactly, but it seemed a lot longer than the last one! Lemme know! I'll work on the next one as soon as I do my neglected English report on the Plague..Feedback greatly appreciated!**


	4. Chapter 4

Inevitable

Chapter 4

Sam was woken by the sun early the next morning. _Dumb parents_, she thought, _must have opened my curtains again..._

She opened her eyes.

_Hold on a sec...this isn't my room..._

She moved to get up but stopped as she felt an arm around her, and as she realized that her "pillow" was in fact a shoulder. _A very comfy shoulder..._ she thought as she turned her head up to see who she could have possibly fallen asleep on. She stifled a small yelp of surprise when she realized it was Danny, and the memories of the night before came flooding back. _Oops._ She turned to check the clock and relaxed when she saw that she still had 20 minutes before she usually got up. _Couldn't hurt to stay here a little longer..._ she thought as she attempted to go back to sleep.

But they were both jolted awake a few moments later by heavy footsteps bounding down the stairs, followed by much softer ones. They turned their heads to see Jack and Maddie.

"Morning kids!" Maddie announced cheerfully, "Sleep well?"

"...Hmm?" a groggy Danny mumbled, still trying to take in where he was, and what year he was in.

Sam stretched, "Yeah, I slept okay, considering we fell asleep on a couch...What time did you guys get in last night?" she wondered as Jack made his way into the kitchen and Danny continued to take in his surroundings, before a look of comprehension dawned on his face. Sam stifled a laugh at how funny he was when he didn't know where he was.

"Around midnight, we got stuck in the snow." Maddie replied from the kitchen as she had begun to whip up a batch of ecto-free pancakes.

"Hey Dan, you think you could take me home for a change of clothes after you shower and stuff?" Sam asked as she got up from her spot on the couch.

"Sure," he said, and then jolted up in surprise as he realized something. "Oh my gosh! We forgot to send Tucker his report last night! He's gonna kill us!" He announced as he dug in his pocket for his cell phone.

When he finally found it, the screen read 17 missed calls and 4 messages. "Oh, crap," he muttered.

"Did you say Tucker?" Maddie's voice rang from the kitchen, "He stopped by really early this morning to 'borrow your computer' or something. Said it was urgent, so we let him.

Danny and Sam visibly relaxed at this news.

So a quick flight to Sams and back and about an hour of getting ready later found the two on their way to school with time to spare. They chatted aimlessly as they approached their destination. Tucker waved them over and the three walked inside. Danny and Sam continued to talk and Tucker just stared at the fact that they were so wrapped up in each other that they had barely acknowledged him. He only smiled. _Clueless_, he thought.

Finally, the trio made it to 4th period. After everyone had changed, they stepped into the gymnasium to see what "fun" awaited them today. To their surprise, it actually _did_ look like fun. For once. The three friends stood together at the back as everyone waited for Miss Tetslaff to explain.

"For the rest of the week, we will be practicing gymnastics. We only have the equipment for so long, so let's make the best of our time!" She shouted, her voice booming off the walls of the large gymnasium. Everyone stared at the springboard and trampoline before them, "Well? What are you waiting for? Line up so we can get started!" Everyone immediately obliged.

The first people to go were mostly of the weaker crowd, and only did small jumps and hesitantly landed on the mats. Kwan, who had taken charge as the leader of the Dash's group during his absense, was next, and bragged to everyone about how he was going to do an 'awesome flip.' The trio all stifled yawns as most of the girls swooned.

Everyone watched as Kwan ran and jumped off the trampoline--only to land flat on his face. Most of the class sighed sadly, but Sam, Tucker and Danny couldn't keep their laughter in. As Miss Tetslaff helped Kwan up, she glared at the three, which made them stop.

Or most of them.

Danny hadn't seen the look she'd sent them and continued laughing. She stormed over and stood right in front of him until he took the hint and shutup. However, it was already too late.

"Something funny, Fenton?!" she bellowed.

"No, Mam," he responded automatically when he straightened up.

"Care to show us how much better _your_ flip is?" she challenged.

"No, that's--" and then he brightened, "Sure!"

He began marching over to the starting mark. Sam and Tucker trailed him, casting him worried glances.

"Uh, Danny?" Sam began, "Maybe this isn't such a good idea..."

"Yeah, dude," Tucker added, "Maybe you should just tell her you were kidding or something..."

"Relax, guys," Danny replied carelessly, "I'm just gonna show her a simple flip. It's not like I have a wimp cover to blow anymore."

As he ran up the track, the students stood by, watching with little interest, expecting a similar wipe-out to Kwan's, who sat nursing his bruises with a similar level of interest. They weren't, however, expecting what they saw next.

Danny bounded on the trampoline with a little more force than he'd planned on, and it groaned in protest, but shot him up all the same. Way up, actually. Perhaps a physically impossible height for any average human. However he was oblivious to his height and flipped anyway. Three times. And landed with perfect balance, bending his knees.

Now he'd done it.

The entire class stared on in a speechless awe--the second time in two days for those who had seen Danny's fight with Dash--as Danny slowly regained his composure and realized what he'd done.

"...Uhhh...heh...thats some springy trampoline?" He tried. It had no effect, so he quietly stepped off the mat and rejoined his friends, who were looking at him with a mixture of scolding, confusion, and worry.

"Ehem.." Miss Tetslaff cleared her throat as she came back from her stupor, "That'll be...uh...all for today class..." she finished lamely as she headed back to her office.

The students continued to gape at Danny as he made his way towards the dressing rooms with his friends.

**A/N: You know, you guys are pretty lucky that I update so often! Unlike SOME people (coughDPcrazycough lol) I don't hold my stories HOSTAGE! (lol j/k DPcrazy) 'Cause I WAS gonna wait till tomorrow, but I **_**guess**_** I'll probably get started on chapter 5 tonight and see if I can get it up before I go to sleep. DEPENDING though, k? No promises, but I'll try my best, so keep your eyes opened for chapter 5, too!**

**P.S. Hah! Isn't that rich? I just compared my pathetic little story to one of DPcrazy's! Hah That's great! You're awesome DPCrazy!**


	5. Chapter 5

Inevitable

Chapter 5

The trio silently made their way down the hallway after they were done changing, Danny looking more sullen than ever.

"Care to explain what--" Sam began, but was cut off by the school's front doors opening, banging loudly against the wall behind them. Dash stood at the entrance, his face twisted in fury. He spotted Danny and his friends.

"FENTON!" he bellowed as he made his way loudly down the hallway.

"Wow," Tucker began, "he recovered quicker than anticipated."

"Here we go again," Danny muttered more quietly as Dash grew closer.

He thrust Danny up into the locker--again--and gained a crowd in the process.

"You think that just cause you got a lucky hit on me," here, Tucker and Sam stifled a laugh, "that you can do whatever you want around here?"

"Look Dash, I--"

"No! You missed your beating yesterday, and today, so I'm gonna make it up to ya!" he bellowed.

And just as he lifted him higher and a away from the locker and pulled back his fist, he was stopped by a ripping noise and a suddenly much lighter load. Danny was sitting on the floor, and Dash held his destroyed shirt. Everyone just stared.

Now, Danny had indeed acquired muscles from the constant ghost fighting over the past year or so, and maybe all the girls would be staring at that--were it not for the scars. The big pink scars extended all over his abdomen, most of them slice or burn marks, but there were the odd ones that no one would be able to identify what, exactly, had made them.

No one said a word.

"Fenton...wha...?" Even Dash was at a loss for words.

The hallway fell back into silence as Danny stood up, snatched his shirt--or what was left of it--from Dash's fist that was still up in the air, and stalked off in the direction of the gym, grumbling prophanities. Tucker and Sam sent each other one concerned look and rushed off after him. Dash tried to look nonchalant as he walked away, but most students were still stunned by what they'd seen.

In the boys changing room, Danny changed into the shirt that Tucker had grabbed out of his locker on the way, and they said nothing as they went to lunch.

In the cafeteria, Sam and Tucker didn't really know what to do about the situation, but decided to play the "everything'll be fine" card, even if it wouldn't be.

"So," Tucker began, "what happened in gym anyway?"

"It was an accident! I really don't know what happened!" Danny defended himself in a loud whisper, "I mean, I couldn't even feel myself using my powers, and I only realized what I did when I landed, and by then it was too late!" He looked around to make sure no one was close enough to hear. Everyone was staring, but they were all pretty much keeping their distance.

"Well, _this_ should be fun to explain," Sam muttered sarcastically, but took pity on her friend's panicking state, "Oh, relax, I was only joking. It'll blow over, just as long as nothing else happens. I'm sure we can avoid a disaster."

"Yeah, 'cause we've been _so _lucky when it comes to avoiding disasters," Danny mumbled in retort.

They finished their food and dumped their trays, ignoring the looks everyone was giving them.

"Would you relax?" Tucker said, annoyed, and they made their way out of the cafeteria doors and down the hall.

The trio spent the rest of the day avoiding stares, and _attempting_ to concentrate on their work. But, as luck wasn't really on their side, the word _attempting_ seemed to be key.

In seventh period, science, Danny's ghost sense went off for the fourth time since lunch had ended. It had been the Box Ghost three out of four times, but Technus had also showed himself in search of the computer lab's new equipment._ At least I know Technus won't be back for a while, _he thought, _but I don't know how that stupid Box Ghost keeps getting out! _He sighed and raised his hand, earning a simpathetic look from his friends, and a groan from the rest of the class.

"What is it now Mr. Fenton?" Mr. Lancer, who was substituting in science for the next few weeks, asked, "Gotta go to the bathroom and not come back for a half hour again?"

Several students giggled at this, but Sam silenced them with her glare.

"Uhh...heh, no." Danny replied, nervously. It was harder to make up good excuses when put on the spot, "I was, uhh, actually wondering if I could go to the nurses office?"

"Yeah, the freak hurt himself doing his freaky impossible flip," he heard Dash say from the back, but ignored him.

"Fine, Mr. Fenton," Mr. Lancer grumbled, handing out a pass, "but you'd better be pretty sick!"

"Oh, don't worry, he is," Dash yelled from the back. This earned him some stifled laughter from most of the class, and a frightening glare from Sam, which immediately silenced him.

Danny took the pass and headed out the door as quickly as he could.

Outside, he was surprised as a box hit him in the head and knocked him off-balance in the air. He spun around, expecting the Box Ghost, yet again, but was surprised to see Dora Mattingly and Wulf floating in front of him. He could tell that it had been Wulf who'd thrown the box, for he was wearing a guiltier smile than the Box Ghost _himself_ wore when he caught him off-guard. He let out a sigh of relief.

"Geez, Wulf, way to scare a guy. I thought you were the box ghost," he said as he floated over to them. The large ghost only smiled sheepishly.

"We've come to warn you, child," Dora began, "of a danger that comes your way."

"Danger? Oh no, the evil future me didn't get out, did he? I thought Clockwork--"

"Relax," Dora interrupted, "he's still safe and sound in the thermos. It's Skulker we've come to warn you about."

"Seriously?" Danny laughed, "Skulker? Hah, that's a good one. Skulker can't count to ten, let alone come up with something that would actually prove dangerous. You guys wasted a trip. I'll be fine."

"He's not going to _harm_ you...Much," said Dora, "He's got a plan."

"Yeah, so I've heard. Listen, guys, I appreciate your concern, but I can handle anything he throws at me."

"But he's going to--" she was cut off as a blast hit her in the side and sent her flying. Danny spotted Skulker lowering his weapon to his right.

"Geez, Skulker," said Danny as he helped up Dora, "I knew you were low, but hitting a girl? Shame on you."

"Well, child, as you know, I feel no shame," the metallic ghost said confidently as he approached.

Skulker then pulled out something that looked like a cross between a vacuum cleaner and an ecto-gun. Without warning, he fired it at Dora and Wulf, and they were sucked inside.

Now Danny was mad.

"Hey!" he yelled, firing an ecto-blast at Skulker's head as he'd turned to leave, successfully getting his attention, "If you've got a problem with me, fine, I'll gladly suck you into the thermos every day for the rest of my life! But leave anyone else out of this! They've got nothing to do with it!" He fired another, angrier blast, which threw his opponent back a few feet.

"Ahh," the ghost replied, "but then I miss out on seeing you all wound up, and where's the fun in that?"

The halfa whipped out his thermos and sucked him in, leaving him no time to escape. He would release him in the lab later so he could free Dora and Wulf, and give him another chance to kick his butt, he decided.

By the time he got back to class, the bell had rung, and he sighed, waiting for his friends near their lockers. Sam and Danny had a free period, so they would wait for Tucker in the library and do their homework.

Once they got there, they ignored the gazes of everyone else working there, setting their things down at a table in the far corner, where it would be harder for onlookers to hear them.

Danny sighed as he took a seat. Sam sat down next to him.

"So you never did tell us," she began casually, "was it the Box Ghost who showed up again during science? 'Cause I figured it wouldn't have taken you _that_ long."

"Actually, no," he replied, his mild surprise showing, "It was Dora and Wulf. They came to warn me," he noted the worry etched on her face, "Relax, they were warning me about Skulker. More talk of this amazing plan of his," he laughed.

"Ah, I'm sure it'll be a show," she replied with a laugh, but then became more serious, "Did you at least hear what they had to say? I mean, it might be worth listening to if it's got Dora _and_ Wulf worried."

"That's the thing, before they could tell me anything, Skulker showed up and sucked them into this weird vaccuum-thingy. I sucked him into the thermos, so I'll try to get Dora and Wulf released later tonight."

She nodded in reply and opened her book. About an hour later, the bell rang and Tucker showed up and the three headed back to Danny's house.

"Hey, Mom," he greeted when he walked in, "where's Dad?" he wondered, secretly hoping he wasn't in the lab so they could free Dora and Wulf, and take care of Skulker.

"Upstairs, taking a nap," she replied.

The three headed downstairs without giving her a chance to get another word in. Curious to what they could be doing down there, she followed them. Once she got to the bottom of the stairs, she was about to ask what was going on when she saw something shocking.

**A/N: Please don't hurt me! I know it's a cliffhanger, but if I kept going I'd never get it done 'cause there's SO much I wanted to write! Please hang in there, I should have time to add another chapter before I leave Wednesday morning, and if not I can type on the plane, and post when I get there (I'm going to visit some family). Thank you so much for your patience!**


	6. Chapter 6

Inevitable

Chapter 6

She was in shock. Complete and utter shock. There, in front of her, preparing to release a ghost from the Fenton thermos, _her_ thermos, was Danny Phantom.

She tried to move, but found herself unable to, so instead, she took the time to take in the situation. Sam and Tucker were there with him, but her son was now gone. _That Phantom better not have hurt him,_ she thought angrily. And why weren't Sam and Tucker running away screaming? Shouldn't they be terrified? In fact, they almost seemed to be helping him. And…talking to him.

"Danny," Sam said, casually Maddie noted, as if they were best friends, "could you open the portal? Your parents have the genetic lock on."

At this Maddie gasped. How could Phantom have parents? And how could they have messed with the lock on the portal. _Filthy ghosts,_ she thought, _now they're messing with our equipment too._ But…she'd said _genetic_ lock. Only Fentons could access the genetic lock. Could Phantom have been one of their deceased family members? It would certainly explain why he was always hanging around their house, or so it seemed. _And_ it would explain why his name sounded so much like Fenton. She searched her mind for anyone in their family named Danny who had died young, but remembered that they had specifically named their son so for the sole reason that no one else they knew had it. It was a relatively unique name where they lived.

Her son…but no. Danny wasn't dead. She shuddered at the thought. _It must just be an ancestor of ours from a long time ago,_ she thought, and continued to watch as Phantom floated over, removed his glove, and placed his thumb on the key pad. Maddie was still slightly surprised as he succeeded in unlocking the doors, but left them closed.

"Alright. Sam," he began, "when I get him to release Dora and Wulf, open the portal right away." She nodded. "Tucker," he turned to the techno-geek, who was holding his P.D.A., which was attached to one of the Fentons' ghost shields, "is the shield around the basement up yet?"

"Yepp," he nodded in response, "and I put it _inside_ the walls so your mom won't notice anything from upstairs," he stated proudly.

"Perfect Tuck," he said, satisfied. "Well, here it goes," he said, before lifting up the thermos and unscrewing the lid.

Skulker popped out almost immediately, followed by a dizzy-looking Dora and Wulf. When Sam saw this, she immediately opened the portal. The ghosts, seeing their freedom, made a run for it, and Sam shut the doors again before anything else got out.

All three now focused their attention on Skulker, who floated in the middle of the basement, smirking, as if awaiting any attempts at an attack. Danny decided that he was too tired to beat the crap out of him, and sucked him back into the thermos without another word.

Maddie was about to reveal herself and attack, when both Tucker and Sam left their "stations" and walked to the center of the lab, almost directly below where Phantom floated. Said ghost lowered until he was only a few feet above their heads, and then a ring appeared around his waist. Maddie took a defensive stance, expecting some kind of attack, but nothing came. Instead, the ring separated into two, one traveling up, the other down. When they disappeared, Maddie couldn't believe her eyes. Her _son_ dropped to the ground in between his two friends and the three began chatting about what had happened only seconds earlier.

She ran over the possibilities in her head. _Is he overshadowing him?_ _No, that doesn't make any sense…_ But the more she thought about it, the more resemblances she saw in between her son and the teen ghost, who had seemed to age at the same rate as any other teenager, namely, Danny.

The information was all too much for her, and she stumbled backwards, effectively blowing her cover as she accidentally kicked a broken ecto-gun. All three teenagers looked up from their conversation in alarm, and when they spotted her, dread washed over all their faces.

"M…mom?" Danny asked, nearly as speechless as her.

"D-Danny?" She stuttered, "Are you…dead?…When this, I mean, why didn't you tell us?" She began to ramble.

"No!" He interrupted, "I'm not…dead…" he silenced, not really knowing if the statement was true.

She looked at him expectantly. He sighed.

"Do you remember that lab accident a little over a year ago?" she nodded. "Well, I…umm…gotghostpowersandbecameDannyPhantom!" He spat out. She looked at him, not understanding in the least. He was about to try again when Sam interrupted.

"Uhh…maybe we should go upstairs and talk about this?" she suggested. They headed upstairs in response. Maddie sat down on the smaller couch, and Tucker on the recliner. Danny and Sam sat down on the couch together.

Danny didn't know how to start. How could he explain to his own mother that he'd been lying and going behind her back all this time? He had begun to fall into an even more depressed state when he felt Sam grab his hand comfortingly. He looked up and saw her flash him an encouraging smile, and he felt better, remembering what she'd said after the incident with Dash.

"No matter what," she'd said, "you know you'll always have Tucker and I." He took comfort in this and looked up at his mother, preparing to tell her everything, start to finish.

Over the next three hours, the somber mood became one of understanding, and then miraculously, everyone was laughing at a story of one of the battles they'd fought against the Box Ghost.

"…and then the idiot basically flew right into Sam. She had him in the thermos in less than a second," Danny finished, laughing hysterically along with the other three.

Once they'd settled down, Tucker heard a beeping noise on his P.D.A., and sighed without even checking it.

"Guess that means I have to go," he announced standing.

"See ya, Tuck!" Danny and Sam chorused.

Once he'd left, the two turned to Maddie, who was smiling at the scene of the two of them till holding hands, squished together close on the large couch.

"Soo…Mom…I guess this means you're not mad?" Danny asked hopefully.

"Mad? Oh sweetie of course not!" she said truthfully, "I'm so proud of the three of you! Saving people from ghosts everyday! You're my little heroes!" she said, walking over to give them each a kiss on the forehead. "Now, what are you two up to tonight?" she wondered.

"I dunno," Danny began, "wanna watch a movie or something Sam?"

"Sure…umm…Could we please watch _12 Angry Men_?" she pleaded. "I haven't seen it in forever, and it's, like, one of my favorites!"

"Sure, Sam," he replied, smiling as she got up excitedly to set it up.

"Oh, I love that one!" Maddie said, "Would you two mind if I joined you?"

"Oh, not at all Mrs. Fenton!" Sam replied. Danny just smiled happily, feeling so much lighter about his mom knowing his secret.

Sam turned around once she'd finished finding and setting up the D.V.D. She plopped down next to Danny and leaned against him as he wrapped his arms around her. Maddie smiled secretly at the two, but said nothing. _Clueless,_ she thought.

After only an hour, Sam, who had seen the movie a total of 27 times, was sound asleep, and Danny struggled to keep his eyes open when he noticed she'd drifted off, only succeeding for about ten minutes longer. It was still pretty early, but the two had had a long day.

When the movie ended, Maddie got up and switched it off. She decided to see if they wanted to move, and gently shook Danny, wary not to wake Sam. He opened his eyes after a moment and looked up at his mother.

"Oh, hey mom," he slurred, "we fall asleep again?"

She nodded in reply. "You want me to call Sam's parents and let them know she's staying the night?" she suggested.

"It's not like they'd even notice, anyway," Danny replied angrily. He sighed sadly and looked down at the sleeping girl.

"You really love her, don't you?" his mother asked quietly.

He looked up at her sadly and nodded. "Yeah, I do," he admitted, squeezing her a bit tighter.

"Well, sweetie, she knows she'll always have a home and family here." She said.

He nodded, looking a bit happier, and settled back into his spot. "Call them if you want," he said tiredly as he began to drift off again, "I don't want to wake her up."

"Sure thing sweetie," she replied happily. She smiled down at them before turning off the light and heading upstairs, where she would explain everything to her husband, who'd somehow managed to sleep through everything.

**A/N: Sorry it took a while, but I'll try to write some more on the plane tomorrow and post it when I get in at night if I get the chance! Hope you liked it! Lemme know! **


	7. Chapter 7

Inevtiable

Chapter 7

A comfortable silence settled over the breakfast table the next morning. After speaking to Sam's parents that morning, she'd convinced them to let Sam have the morning off. It hadn't taken much to persuade them, they really couldn't care less about their daughter's education, despite the fact that she brought home straight A's, but it had been difficult to get them to call the school and tell them she wouldn't be coming in. Were they really that lazy?

Danny and Sam still slept peacefully on the couch. Tucker had come over earlier to walk with them to school, and Maddie had invited him in for breakfast with Jack and Jazz, who had done nothing but obsess over all of Danny's "cool ghost powers," though Jazz's obsessing took on a more psychological approach, as she tried to identify which emotion could be tied to each of his powers. Tucker had left again for school, promising to drop by again later.

Maddie herself had done much thinking during this silence, replaying all of her and Jack's encounters with Danny Phantom, her mind becoming more and more troubled about the harm she could have accidentally caused him had they ever gotten a good shot in. At that moment, Danny stepped into the doorway of the kitchen, holding Sam's hand, who trailed close behind him.

"Oh! You guys are up!" Maddie exclaimed upon seeing them. They looked awfully confused, so she decided to explain, "Sam, sweetie, I called your parents this morning and told them you were sick so you two could sleep in," Sam smiled thankfully in response, "I figured you guys could use a day off. I offered to call Tucker's parents for him, but he said something about it being his day to work in the computer lab. He left a little while ago."

Sam groaned and Danny just sighed, "Tucker was here? Great, he probably snapped another dozen pictures of us to try to convince the school that we're together and collect the pool," Danny said, annoyed.

Maddie just laughed as they each took a seat at the table next to each other. Maddie was just about to offer them breakfast when Jack interrupted.

"So! Danny boy! When do we get an eplanation of all your really cool powers?" He asked excitedly. Just then, Danny's ghost sense went off.

"Right after I take care of whoever's bothering us this time," he said as he transformed.

"I'll come with you, Danny," Sam said. He looked hesitant at putting her in danger, "Oh, come on!" She urged, "I'll be fine, just like every other time."

"Fine," he caved, "but you know the rules. It gets too dangerous, you get out of there, promise?" He questioned protectively. Maddie, Jack and Jazz regarded scene curiously.

"And _you_ know that just like every other time, I could never promise to leave you behind," she stated seriously.

He groaned, "Fine, I give up. Let's just go," he said wrapping his arm around her waist as she wrapped her arm over his shoulder. Danny turned them both intangible and floated through the ceiling.

"Well," Jazz finally said after a moment of silence, "that was strange."

Outside, both Sam and Danny searched the skies above the op-center for any sign of whatever had set off Danny's ghost sense. They stopped short as what appeared to be the hand of a clock appeared in front of them. Danny pulled Sam protectively behind him as a full clock began to form around the hand. Clockwork floated out from the portal. Danny and Sam relaxed visibly.

"Geez, Clockwork," Danny began, "you scared us."

Clockwork chuckled, "I know."

"Well, glad we could be entertaining for you," Sam said sarcastically as Danny lowered them both to the op-center. She pulled her arm away but he didn't remove his from her waist, so she put her arm around his waist in response as Clockwork lowered to the op-center as well.

"I have come to warn you," Clockwork began.

"Oh, no. Not you too!" Danny exclaimed, exasperated, "Let me guess. Skulker's plan?"

Clockwork nodded, "I sent Wulf and Dora to warn you, and now I must convince you to take this warning seriously. Although Skulker's plans have never been well thought out in the past, I have to warn you; he's had some help on this one. You may be able to beat him easily when you fight, but combat is not the only type of battle," Danny and Sam regarded him pensively. He continued, "All that I am able to tell you is that you need to keep an eye out. There will be some difficult decisions to be made. You will know what to do when the time comes, but you must know. Those around you, your family, your friends, may be in danger," he began to float off the roof as he fiddled with his staff.

"Wait!" Danny called, "How will I be able to protect everyone if the fight isn't just physical?"

"Give yourself a little more credit," Clockwork smiled lightheartedly, "You will know what to do. Trust in yourself, and don't be afraid to look to those who love you for guidance," he looked at Sam, who blushed, knowing what he was implying. Another portal appeared, and Clockwork floated through it with one last look of encouragement at Danny and Sam. _Clueless._

Danny sighed and phased them back down into his room. He set Sam down on his bed and changed back, sitting down next to her.

"What are we supposed to do now?" he wondered alloud.

"We'll do all we can do," Sam replied encouragingly, "we wait and keep an eye out for Skulker. Don't worry Danny," she said, holding his hand in reassurance, "Clockwork obviously knows what he's doing."

"I guess you're right," he replied, relaxing a little. She leaned her head on his shoulder and closed her eyes.

"So, we've got a couple hours until lunch time at school," she began, "you wanna go get some breakfast?"

"Yeah, sure," he replied, smiling down at her, "Let's just go tell my parents first." And with that, they stood up, still holding hands, and headed out into the hallway and down the stairs.

**A/N: K, well, after an incredibly long adventure including the loss of my luggage on the plane ride over here (my computer was in my luggage), I have finally gotten my bags and succeeded in posting this chapter! I did my best, so I hope you like it and will let me know what you think!**

**By the way, DPCrazy, I think your PM is disabled, though it may just be my crappy computer. And HAHA about the hostage chapter of School Trouble :P**

**Well, I've got jet-lag! See ya!**


	8. Chapter 8

Inevitable

Chapter 8

Danny and Sam decided to walk for a change as they made their way to school that afternoon after a well-deserved breakfast at the local Diner. They stopped in front of the entrance, however, as they heard several screams coming from inside. It wasn't long until the doors burst open, the students pooring out, nearly knocking them over. Danny managed to grab a hold of Sam and turn them both intagible.

It wasn't long until they found Tucker, who was typing vigorously on his P.D.A. just inside the school entrance.

"Hey guys," he acknowledged, nodding his head towards them.

"Hey Tuck," Danny began. "What's going on anyway? Leftovers in the Cafeteria again?" He joked. Tucker merely smiled in reply without looking up.

Just then, they heard a the groaning of a machine from around the corner of the hallway. Danny and Sam turned their attention, curious, while Tucker continued to type something on his P.D.A. Technus came into view, his "armor" composed of the computer lab's equipment. Danny sighed in response, and proceeded to check around them to make sure no one was left to witness his transformation. He noticed many of the students hesitating by the doors, and headed towards an empty classroom to change.

"Yeah, Danny," Tucker encouraged, "go get him, I'll see if I can still hack his system," and he turned his attention back to his P.D.A.

However, Sam clearing her throat rather loudly off to the side stopped them both in their tracks, and they turned their attention to her.

"Umm, guys? I think this would be a bit faster," she said as she pulled the fire alarm.

All four figures in the hallway were instantly drenched by the sprinklers on the ceiling. Tucker glared at Sam as she made her way back to Danny's side when his P.D.A. short-circuited. They turned towards the "threat" that was Technus, who was now on the floor, twitching wildly as the various monitors and computers covering him began to smoke. Tucker readied the thermos and when Technus finally shot out of his armor, attempting to make a quick escape, he was immediately caught in the blue beam.

The trio sighed in relief that the situation had been contained. They turned around and headed towards the doors, which now seemed to be permanently stuck open.

"Thanks, Sam," Danny began, "That was quick thinking." He smiled at her. She smiled warmly in response.

"Yeah, thanks a lot Sam," he noted with hostility as he trailed behind them, "I was just done paying for this one! She was mine!"

Sam only chuckled, "Oh, relax, I'll buy you a new one...Not that a little time away from those things wouldn't do you some good..." Danny failed to hide his chuckle at this, and eventually he and Sam burst out laughing.

"Yeah, very funny, Lovebirds."

The only grumbled inaudibly on their way to the Nasty Burger, as school would be canceled for the rest of the afternoon.

"So," Danny started casually as he slid into the booth next to Sam, "What did Technus want? Besides the usual "world domination" part."

"That's the thing," Tucker appeared perplexed, "He was blathering on and on about this "amazing" plan of Skulker's, too. Maybe it's worth looking into."

"Umm, Tucker," Sam began, and glanced at Danny, "We kind of already knew that."

"Oh?"

"Yeah," she continued, "We got a visit from Clockwork this morning and he--"

"What?!" Tucker interrupted, "Clockwork came by and you didn't even call me?!" Sam and Danny only raised eyebrows. "Aw, man! I was gonna ask him if I should pull out of the bet!"

He visibly shrunk at their glares.

After eating, the three began to make their way towards Danny's house.

"Oh," Sam stopped in her tracks, "Do you guys mind if we stop at my house? I think my parents are actually gonna be home for a bit this afternoon, and I wanted to see if I could catch them."

Tucker and Danny looked at each other, both wordlessly agreeing that she'd only be disappointed again, whether or not they ended up being there.

"Umm, actually," Tucker began, "Do you guys mind if I meet you at Danny's later? I wanted to drop my bag off at home first."

"Sure," Sam replied, oblivious that he was just making excuses. Danny sent a quick look his way, but let him go all the same. He didn't like seeing Sam upset either, but he knew she would need someone.

Danny and Sam silently made their way to her house. It wasn't an awkward silence, though. They were content in each other's company, despite the fact that Danny wasn't looking forward to where they were going at all.

When they made it to the door, Sam searched her pockets for the key, while Danny wordlessly reached an intangible hand through and unlocked the door from the inside. When Sam heard the click, she looked up to see him smiling sheepishly back at her. She only grinned back as she pushed the door open.

"Mom? Dad? You guys home?" She called. She didn't hear a response, so she made her way to the kitchen, Danny trailing behind. They were sitting at the table, Jeremy reading a newspaper while Pamely sipped a coffee. Danny decided to stay just outside the doorway. He didn't want to get in the middle of anything.

"Oh," her father remarked mildly, "You're home," he said simply.

"Yeah," she replied, her good mood falling slightly when they didn't seem the least bit excited. But she didn't give up. "So, did you guys get my report card in the mail?" she hinted, "I sent it to you last week."

"Huh? Oh, yes, we got it. You had a good grade in...umm...Physics, right?" Jeremy replied distractedly.

"I'm not taking Physics this semester," Sam mumbled in a monotone voice.

An uncomfortable silence settled over the room. Danny decided it was rude of him to not make himself known, and chose that moment to step into view.

"Uhh, hi Mr. and Mrs. Manson," he stated nervously.

"Oh, Samantha, you didn't tell us your little boyfriend was here," Pamela stated, mildly interested now.

"Danny's just a friend, Mom, I don't have a boyfriend." she replied with a small blush.

"Oh, well, maybe you would if you wore nicer clothes. I mean truly, you could at least _try_ to make yourself look pretty. _Normal_." Pamela added, distracted again by a section of the paper.

That struck a nerve in Sam, the word normal. She blinked away tears that threatened to spill. She remained silent.

"Sam," Jeremy added as she began to let herself be led out of the room by Danny, "We're leaving again in a couple of hours for Paris, and then we'll probably head straight to Beijing from there, so we won't be back for a couple of weeks." He went back to his paper as they left the room silently.

Sam, her eyes downcast, didn't even make it to the front door. She stopped in the living room to sit on a couch as the tears fell. Danny sat down next to her and wrapped his arms around her.

From the kitchen, they could hear arguing.

"Really, Jeremy, I can't believe I let you talk me out of putting her up for adoption when we had the chance. I mean, what a mistake _that_ was." Pamela's voice was muffled by the wall, but both Sam and Danny could hear her clearly enough. Danny squeezed her tighter.

"I know, Pam, but it's too late now. How do you think it would look? Ugh. Children. They're all mistakes." Jeremy replied.

Danny covered Sam's ears so that she wouldn't have to hear anymore, and he transformed and flew them through the roof wordlessly.

Once they made it to FentonWorks, he transformed back and rang the doorbell, as he couldn't open the door while he was holding Sam. Maddie opened the door, and upon seeing the two, let them pass and closed the door behind them. Danny sat down on the couch and waited until she fell asleep. When he was sure she was, he bent down and whispered in her ear.

"You're the best thing that's ever happened to them, they're just too ignorant to see it."

She seemed to drift into a calmer sleep at his words.

**A/N Okay, so it was all mushy...or fluffy, or whatever you wanna call it, but in my defence, I **_**am**_** sleep deprived, and we all know that sleep deprived goths do the world no good :P. Anyways, someone said the main plot was moving a little too quickly, so I decided to throw this one in there XD.**

**So, there it is, before midnight, as I promised my brother :P. **

**I'll get to work. I think I'll only be able to update once or twice a week in the near future, considering I have exams coming up and all. Sorry, but thanks for sticking with me all the same!**


	9. Chapter 9

Inevitable

Chapter 9

The next day at school started out relatively normally. Tucker noticed that Sam seemed a bit quieter, and attributed it to whatever had happened with her parents. He didn't say anything about it, but figured that they'd either not been there, and she'd been disappointed, or they had been, and it had ended the way it always seemed to: more disappointment. By gym class, however, they both seemed pretty back to normal, laughing and joking as they always did.

The trio stood at the back, as they had made a habit of doing. It made it harder for their classmates to stare, but somehow, they managed. They sighed as Ms. Tetslaff came out of the supply closet, dribbling a basketball and pulling along a rolling cart containing more orange balls behind her. The expressions on the faces of the students were mixed as they were divided into groups. The gym was big enough and had enough nets to play two games at once, so she usually put the more talented athletes on one side, and the less talented on the other side, though she never declared it that way.

Naturally, Sam was put on the side with the more talented players, but Ms. Tetslaff didn't say anything when she changed sides to be with Tucker and Danny. She knew better than to get Sam, of all people, worked up. The last thing she wanted was a lecture on the unfairness of splitting the class based on talent.

Of course, Tucker had trouble staying standing, even though he rarely obtained the ball or even ran. He seemed to find something to trip over every few moments, even on the flat, obstacle-free surface that was the gym floor. Sam and Danny, who were on his team but rarely passed him the ball due to safety precautions, were probably the best two players, on this side of the gym anyway, and were leading in the point-scoring when Tucker fell down. Again. The fall would have seemed just like any other had it not been for two things; One, the fact that he did not immediately get up as usual, and two, the loud accompanying yelp before he hit the ground. Sam and Danny reacted instantly and rushed to his side to make sure he was alright.

"You okay?" Danny wondered. Tucker shot him a look then, and Danny added quietly, "Sorry, standard question," as he and Sam helped him up and over to the bench.

"So," Sam began, more helpfully, "What hurts?"

"My ankle. I guess I must have just twisted it on my way down. It's no big deal," he sighed, "I've had much worse." The three exchanged amused looks at this, all thinking of the fact that although Danny was the one who always seemed to come closer to the danger when they fought ghosts, Tucker was always the one who ended up hurting himself.

"Do you mind if we keep playing?" Danny asked carefully, hoping his friend wouldn't be offended. Tucker just raised an eyebrow, clearly unoffended.

"Seriously guys, I'm just glad to have a decent excuse to sit out," he grinned.

Danny and Sam, who were kneeling, stood up then, and were about to make their way back over to the game, which had never stopped when Tucker had fallen, when Danny's ghost sense went off. He stiffened and they both carefully made their way back to Tucker.

"Okay," Danny stated seriously, all-business now "I'll go run to the change room in the hallway and transform, and then I'll come back for you, Sam. Then we'll go see who it is, alright?"

Sam nodded, and Danny stood up, dashing for the doors. As he pushed on them, however, they were stuck. He studied the edges of it more carefully now, and noticed a thick, white, solid, concrete, all around the door. He groaned, not wanting to go intangible. He began to walk swiftly towards the only other door, hoping whatever ghost was doing this hadn't gotten to it yet, when a loud alarm stopped him in his tracks.

The ghost alarm.

That meant that all the walls now had a powerful ghost shield turned on inside them. He _couldn't_ phase through the door.

The students, who were well trained for ghost drills, living in Amity Park, made their way towards the center of the gym, where Ms. Tetslaff stood, preparing to take them outside. Tucker limped his way over to the group, knowing he wouldn't be much help to Danny and Sam, who had gone off to check the other door when no one was watching. They shuffled back to the group, looking annoyed, reporting to him that not only were they stuck inside, but that the shield was somehow limiting Danny's powers, too. They waited for Ms.Tetslaff to come to the realization that they were stuck, and then obediently sat along the gym wall with everyone else, at the end of the line.

Danny started to get even more annoyed when his ghost sense went off again, knowing that whoever was going to attack was in the gym with them. He could only be thankful that Sam had thought to bring her thermos, which now sat on her lap.

Suddenly, the Box Ghost materialized in front of them. Oddly, the trio felt no sense of relief, as he was tied up and hanging from what looked like a fishing line, but wherever the accompanying pole was, it wasn't visible.

The three instantly knew who else was in the gym with them, though he didn't show himself. They'd been waiting for him ever since Clockwork's warning the day before.

A deep chortle from above where the Box Ghost hung helplessly alerted them to his whereabouts. The students looked on in horror as a metallic-looking ghost with green flaming hair materialized in front of them.

"Come out, come out, wherever you are..." He mocked, scanning the students' faces as they stared, terrified.

Danny saw Skulker's eyes lock on his face with a look of recognition, but didn't move as his eyes slid past him to the rest of his classmates.

"How about this, whelp?" Skulker continued when Danny didn't move, "Either I start picking off your little classmates," he aimed his weapon randomly towards the center of the line of students, who cringed away from him, "or you show yourself now, and nobody else has to get involved."

Danny needed no more encouragement. He would not stand by, afraid for his secret, as his helpless classmates were harmed because of him. He stood up.

"What do you want now Skulker?"

Scared as the students were, they couldn't help but be shocked when Danny adressed the ghost. They watched, petrified yet curious, as he stepped closer to the metallic ghost. How did he even know his name? Wasn't he at all scared? If he was, it didn't show. Of course, his parents _did_ hunt ghosts. But in past attacks, he'd done nothing but run away in fear, just like everyone else.

Ms. Tetslaff was the first to react when Sam stood up as well, inching her way around the wall with what looked like a soup thermos clutched in her hand, a serious but unafraid look on her face.

"Fenton! Manson!" She bellowed in a voice that was not quite as intimidating as it usually was. "What do you think you're doing? You know the procedure! Stay against the wall!"

Sam ignored her, not even hesitating on her way around the wall, out of Skulker's view now. Danny turned his head halfway towards his teacher however, keeping an eye on the enemy in his peripheral vision. He flashed her a dark and serious look, one that, when the rest of the students saw it, would never associate with the Danny Fenton they knew. Ms. Tetslaff seemed to take the hint, and didn't interrupt again as Danny turned back towards the ghost.

"So, what do you think?" Skulker continued as if he hadn't been interrupted, "Not a bad idea, don't you agree? It won't be quite as easy to defend yourself under the present circumstances. Aren't you impressed?"

Danny ignored the question. "Gee, Vlad, you've gotten pretty metallic since the last time I've seen you. Is it that new high iron diet?"

Skulker glowered, seeming offended that Danny couldn't believe that he could come up with the plan on his own, even though he hadn't.

The students on the other hand were shocked. Had he just made a joke? Was he _trying_ to get them all killed?

"Very funny whelp," Skulker allowed, "I'll let him know you send his regards. However, I don't think you're in any position to be making jokes," he noted.

Danny just raised an eyebrow. "Seriously? You think I'm worried?" He snorted, "Just because I don't have the usual...advantages, doesn't mean I still can't beat you with my eyes closed."

Skulker seemed to take this as a challenge, "We'll see about that whelp." And he charged his ecto-gun, aiming it directly at his head, inches away.

Danny smirked as he did a back-handspring, effectively kicking the weapon out of his hands. It flew over Skulker's head, and Sam easily caught it behind him, somehow having known what he was going to to defore he'd done it.

Their classmates seemed a bit less worried at his nonchalance, but were cautious all the same as they stayed pinned to the wall.

Skulker only looked shocked for a moment, before a familiar glowing blade popped out of his right arm and he sent a threatening glare.

Just as Skulker was charging towards him, Danny's arm shot out quickly to his right, and he caught the ecto-gun Sam had thrown him without even seeing or hearing her do so. Instead of firing it right away, he used it as a shield against the blade. All this happened in less than a second, and when his attack was deflected, Skulker staggered back for a moment, attempting to process what had happened. That was all Danny needed. He shot the ecto-gun at him, effectively sending him back into the wall.

Sam followed Danny as he walked up to their foe, who now sat, dazed, on the floor. Their classmates were all shocked at how calm they seemed. Sam held the thermos up, the look on her face daring Skulker to try anything. When he finally cleared his vision, he looked on at them, wondering what they were waiting for. The classmates seemed to wonder this too, although they were mystified as to what a soup thermos was supposed to do. Even Tucker didn't know what was taking them so long. But Sam didn't suck him into the thermos yet, and Danny seemed to understand why, though not a word had passed between them.

"First of all," Sam began, "You can tell Plasmius that this was his dumbest plan yet. He should know that Danny would...properly defend himself and and everyone else before allowing himself to be killed. And if that happened, Vlad would have nothing to stop Danny from revealing him to the public," she said confidently.

"Second of all," Danny continued as if their line of thought was identical, "If you ever even think about threatening or coming near my classmates or any other innocentbystanders again, I'll show everyone here what's _really_ under the helmet of the _'Ghost Zone's Greatest Hunter,'_ " he mocked, twisting said helmet around, just before Sam sucked him into the thermos, armor and all.

They gave everyone a second to breathe as the alarms, that had been blaring in the background during the entire ordeal, finally stopped.

The silence was deafening as they spun around to face their classmates.

**A/N: Okay, it's been a while, but this one's pretty long. Ever since school restarted, I haven't had much time to sit and even **_**read **_**any fanfics, let alone write them, with all the exam-prep going on...**

**Anyways, I hope you enjoyed it! I **_**finally**_** revealed Skulker's amazing plan, though it wasn't that amazing. That's not the end of it though. There's still quite a bit more to go.**

**As always, thanks for being patient and sticking with me! And thank you for all the amazing reviews! By the way Shannon, I pointlessly threw the Box Ghost in there, just for you:P**

**You guys are all amazing!**


	10. Chapter 10

Inevitable

Chapter 10

Jaws were carelessly dropped to the floor as they watched the two spin around with slightly smug expressions, which then faded to worry. These two were kids! Their classmates! There were no words to describe their shock, so they all stayed silent. No one said anything as Tucker stood up and limped to their side, offering his open backpack, which Sam dropped the thermos into. He, too spun around to look at their stunned classmates, who were all slowly coming back out of their reveries. Each was beginning to form a defferent expression, ranging from to sadness to anger to more shock. But each expression had something in common; They all showed emmense gratitude.

Ms. Tetslaff stepped forward, a stern look on her face, though the shock behind it was obvious. She was obviously going to focus on the fact that they hadn't followed procedure. Danny and Sam surpressed a groan. How were they going to explain this?

"Fenton! Manson! What were you thinking? You could have been killed by that ghost! Why didn't you follow procedure?" She ranted. Now Sam and Danny _did_ groan, but in annoyance. Everyone, including Tucker, shot them a strange look. They seemed suddenly unconcerned, as if some strange epiphany had come to them at the same moment.

"Am I boring you two?" She said sarcastically, though she was in disbelief over their nonchalance.

"No, ma'm," they answered in unison. Tucker raised an eyebrow at that, but said nothing.

Ms. Tetslaff looked like she was about to say something else, but was interrupted when the main gym doors burst open, seemingly by some explosion. Most people looked terrified, expecting another ghost, but Danny, Sam, and Tucker were pretty sure they knew who it was. Danny's ghost sense hadn't gone off, and they knew of only one other person who loved explosives.

Jack Fenton.

Mr. Lancer emerged from a clowd of smoke, followed by none other than Jack and Maddie Fenton.

"Where is it?" The balding Vice Principal exclaimed, looking around frantically. "The school's new tracker said the ghost that set off our alarm was just in here!"

He stopped yelling long enough to take in all the shocked faces, and made his was over to Ms. Tetslaff. They talked for a minute, occasionally casting glances over to the trio. The Fenton parents took the opportunity to get the _real_ story from the three. It didn't take long until they were in the loop as well.

"So what are you going to say to them?" Maddie asked expectantly. They had to have some sort of cover story or plan. They looked much too calm. Well, Sam and Danny did, anyway. Tucker looked just as expectant of the answer to the question as she did.

"Well," Sam began, glancing at Danny to see him mirroring her smug expression, "we were going to--" But she was cut off.

"Fenton! Manson!" Tetslaff interrupted, not noticing that it was the second time she'd begun a statement that way in the last five minutes. "Over here now!"

They grinned at their family before turning around to follow the two teachers out through the slightly destroyed doors, and down to Mr. Lancer's office.

They sat down at two of the three chairs in front of his desk. Both teachers shuffled around to attempt a glare at them. Both failed when they saw the smug and fearless expressions their students wore.

"What were you thinking?" Mr. Lancer began, "Were you _trying_ to--" He stopped when Danny held up his hand to stop him.

"Let us explain, Mr. Lancer," Sam began. Mr. Lancer waited expectantly.

"As you know, my parents are two of the leading ghost hunters worldwide," Danny began, "And as I've never had any interest in following in their footsteps, I was always terrified of ghosts,"

"But you just--!" Ms. Tetslaff was silenced by Sam this time.

"Just wait, we're getting there," she said calmly. "Anyways, as Danny is the youngest child of a family of ghost hunters, and terrified of ghosts," they both cracked a smile here, "he was seen as a prime target for Mr. and Mrs. Fenton's enemies."

"They've been coming after me for the past year or so," Danny continued without hesitation. "I was sorta thrown to the sharks. I had to get over my fears as soon as I realized they saw me as a weakness to my parents, and I had to learn to defend myself."

Both teachers looked shocked at first, but Mr. Lancer stepped up. "Well if that was the case, and I'd have to admit, it would explain a _lot_, then why didn't you tell anyone? Didn't your parents know about this?"

"Not at first," Sam said, "because they were the last people that the ghosts wanted to know about it, but they figured it out eventually. Quite recently, actually," they smiled again here, obviously enjoying some odd, personal joke.

"And you've been helping him to...defend himself?" Ms. Tetslaff asked, directing the question at Sam.

Sam and Danny both snorted, "Helping?" Danny laughed, "If it weren't for her and Tuck, my pelt would be adorning some maniac's wall right now." They all shuddered at this.

"This is all ridiculous. I'm going to need to have a word with your parents about this," Mr. Lancer began to make his way towards the door. Danny was there in front of him in less than a second, Sam securely at his side.

"Is there a problem, Mr. Fenton?" Mr. Lancer asked, hiding his shock at how quickly his "clumsy" student had managed to get in front of him.

"No, not at all, Mr Lancer," Danny said with a serious look on his face, though his tone sounded falsely polite. "Just thought I'd get the door for you." He turned and opened the door, not bothering to look back as they made their way back towards the gym doors.

They found Danny's parents in front of the doors, looking expectant. They ignored the stares sent their way.

Danny managed to whisper a "just go with it" before the teachers caught up with them, though they were pretty sure they got the message.

"Mr. and Mrs. Fenton," Mr. Lancer greeted them, "could I have a word with you both for a moment please?"

* * *

**A/N: Please don't hurt me! It took me a really long time to write this, even though it's not nearly as long as some of my others! But I couldn't leave you guys hanging much longer, and I just finished exams, so I was forced out to dinner...Anyways, I'm actually surprised I got it out by now, considering I usually write it all together at once, but not this time!**

**Ugh...I'm so tired..But exams are over! So this story can finally get back on track! I actually have a few plans now! Please don't give up on me, I've got something coming! Anyways, I REALLY appreciate how patient everyone is being! Thank you!**


	11. Chapter 11

Inevitable

Chapter 11

Danny'd parents looked shocked, but only for a moment. They took hesitant steps as they followed the Vice Principal and gym teacher back towards the office.

"What _did_ you tell them?" Tucker asked when the adults were out of hearing distance.

"Hold that thought," Sam said casually, and Danny disappeared right before their eyes.

"Where'd he go now?" Tucker nearly yelled, annoyed at being left out of the loop.

"Just to overshadow his parents with a duplicate. He was gonna make two duplicates and stay with us, but he's feeling kinda lazy today," she shook her head and made her way over to the cafeteria, not far from where they were. Tucker followed hesitantly, narrowing his eyes suspiciously.

"How are you guys doing that?" He asked when they were seated at a table by the door. He noticed when Sam tensed up a bit at his question, but there were no other visible changes in her expression, other than the aversion of her eye.

"Do what?" she asked a little too nervously. Tucker was sure she knew what he was talking about, but decided to give her the benifit of the doubt.

"You know, the way you seem to know what the other is gonna do or say before you do. And he never told you what he was gonna do, with the overshadowing and the duplicates, and the being lazy. How'd you know?"

"We don't know what we're gonna say, Tucker. We're just perseptive of each other. When you're around someone enough, you notice more. And he told me what he was gonna do before he left." She added defensively.

"No, I know you guys. First of all, there was no way he had time to tell you all that with Lancer and Tetslaff right behind you. Second, I've seen how close you guys can be, and how you sometimes say the same things at the same time, but this isn't that. This is something more than just a really close friendship. And I have a feeling you know more about what it is than you're saying," he said confidently.

"Okay, look Tucker," she sighed, "There are some things going on right now, and we _will_ tell you about them, but now's not the time. Danny wants to tell you himself anyway, and it's kind of a long story. Honestly, we're not sure about much more than you are. I'll make sure he tells you, though. Soon," she promised.

Tucker looked at her for a moment, but then decided he could trust them, and nodded in consent. "Fine, but I really hope he's not lazy about _this_. I hate being left out of the loop," he gave a half-smile, to let her know he was joking.

They sat in a comfortable silence for a few more moments before Sam stiffened a moment, and a small, sly look appeared on her face, which she immediately masked, trying to look nonchalant.

Tucker gave her a questioning look, but she wasn't looking at him. In fact, she'd closed her eyes, and looked as if she was focusing on something. Then, abruptly, she spun around and her hand whipped up, as if she'd caught something mid-air. But there was nothing there, so it confused Tucker more when she began speaking.

"Nice try _Phantom_, but when was the last time you were able to sneak up on me?"

At that moment, Danny materialized in his human form, his forearm caught in Sam's death-grip, with one finger pointed as if he was going to poke her in the head.

"And if you _had_ stuck your spit-covered finger in my ear, you would've paid for it. I _hate_ wet-willies," she said triumphantly. She released his arm then.

"Ow," Danny said, rubbing his forearm where she'd caught it, "I know. That's why I was gonna do it. I knew I should've tried Tucker," he mumbled, and then sat down next to Sam.

"Hey! I'm right here!" Tucker said, but then seemed to remember something, "And how'd you know Danny was there, anyway, Sam?"

She looked uncomfortable for a moment, before she answered, "Oh, I felt the drop in temperature, and he's noisy. I could hear him behind me, but it was just luck I managed to catch him like that," she said, seeming satisfied.

"Yeah, but how'd you know it was _Danny_? It could have been any ghost," he said confidently.

"Well," she began, seeming stuck, before she realized something, "the school ghost alarms would've gone off if it was another ghost, or if Danny was in ghost form. Who else could it've been? Other than Vlad or Danielle. Either way, I would've cause _someone_, but I was pretty sure it was him, anyway. What are the odds someone else would come at the exact time Danny was supposed to come back?" She was rambling now, but Tucker's shoulders slumped in defeat. He had no way around that one.

"O..kay..." Tucker said, unconvinced. "So, Nasty Burger, so that Danny can tell us what happened?"

Sam and Danny seemed to relax at this. "Sure," they answered in unison, which Tucker chose to ignore as they made their way to their lockers to pick up their books, as they still had homework from their earlier classes even though school would be undoubtedly cancelled for the rest of the day.

* * *

**A/N: She lives! Ahhh! Okay, so it's been wayy too long, and I feel horrible. And, this one wasn't a very long chapter. But I _did_ get to present the new conflict that I've been trying to set up.**

**Something was also mentioned in a review a while back that caught my attention. It was about how quickly Maddie and Jack had forgiven themselves for hunting Danny before they knew his secret. This is because, as mentioned on my profile, in my "Facts in my stories," Valerie and Danny's parents shared a TRUCE with Phantom before they found out, and had sort of apologized. I'm sorry if anyone was confused, and I'm REALLY sorry for taking so long so get to this part of the story and update. I _was_ trying to update weekly, but things got crazy, and I went away again to a gymnastics competition, where I couldn't bring a computer.**

**Thank you so much for your support in all the reviews, and for sticking with me! I really appreciate it! Thank you!**


	12. Chapter 12

Inevitable

Chapter 12

The Nasty Burger turned out to be pretty crowded by the time they got there. Who would've thought that teenagers wouldn't want to go home after a traumatizing day of nearly getting killed? However, this _was_ Amity, and ghosts were pretty much a regular occurence.

By some miracle, their usual booth wasn't taken, despite the fact that there were people sitting on the floor by the entrance because it was so crowded.

But maybe it wasn't a miracle. The second Sam entered, followed closely by Danny, and then Tucker, the entire restaurant fell silent. Someone splattered a bit of ketchup on the other side of the room, and Tucker heard it, but no one took their eyes off the trio of friends who'd stopped in their tracks.

Sam was the first to get her bearings, followed by Danny, who shook his head to dispel the shock. Tucker followed them as they made their way towards the line. Someone asked for some more packets of ketchup, and the eery silence slowly returned to the loud chattering.

Several people offered to let the three pass them in line, but they politely refused, embarassed by the fact that everyone would occasionally glance in their direction from the corner of their eyes.

"Maybe coming here was a bad idea..." Sam began once they were seated at their booth, studiously ignoring any looks sent their way.

"Are you kidding?" Tucker asked in disbelief, "They gave me a free burger! Besides, it's better to get it over with now. The faster you face everyone, the faster things can go back to normal, minus the bullying." He took a big handful of fries.

Sam and Danny just glared at him. They'd all been offered free meals by the boy behind the counter, who had been in their gym class, which Sam and Danny had politely turned down, trying to draw as little attention to themselves as possible. Tucker, however, had apparently missed the memo. He didn't understand why he'd gotten elbowed in the side--twice, by two different elbows--when he'd grinned and accepted the free meal.

"He does have a point, though," Danny grudgingly admitted.

"Yeah," Sam continued, "I just want things to go back to normal. Though at this point, I can't see that ever happening." The three sighed, looking down at their food, but then Tucker seemed to brighten.

"Hey! Speeking of abnormalities, you promised to tell me what was going on!" He grinned.

Sam and Danny looked at each other and sighed, muttering a "Fine" in unison.

"Look, like Sam said, we don't know much more than you do at this point," Danny began. Tucker raised an eyebrow, and was about to point out the fact that he hadn't _been_ there when she'd said it, but decided not to make it any worse.

"A few months ago, I went to see Clockwork, mostly just to check on my evil future self," he said casually, "But also to ask him a few questions. Remember when I'd been getting headaches?" Tucker nodded, "Well, I asked him if it had anything to do with my ghost side, since medicine didn't seem to be working on them. He said yes.

"He didn't tell me much else, just to ask Sam if she'd been getting any headaches herself. Obviously, he knew the answer, but wanted me to hear for myself. So, I went to visit Sam, and--"

"And nearly scared her to death in the process," Sam interrupted him, grinning. They seemed to be enjoying some private joke, and Tucker just looked confused.

"I snuck up on her when she was looking for pain medicine. Stuck my head through her medicine cabinet," He explained, grinning triumphantly, but then continued, more light-hearted this time, "Anyway, she admitted that she'd been having headaches too, but didn't want to worry us," he sent an accusing glance at her from the corner of his eye.

"So we both went to see Clockwork again, since obviously, whatever we had, it was connected," Sam continued, unphased. "He told us...well...basically, he just said a bunch of cryptic things. We couldn't really make much sense out of much of it."

"Pretty much the only thing that we were able to gather was that ghosts could become...connected with humans or other ghosts when they know them well enough," Danny's face twisted as he tried to explain it, "But we didn't really understand that either, at the time."

"Until about a month ago," Sam finished for him, "We started noticing, well, mostly all the same stuff you did. The talking in sync, and just _knowing_ things about each other without having to say them. Actually, that doesn't even begin to describe the half of it..." She had a faraway look on her face, and Danny looked over at her and smiled. Tucker just stared at them with one question on his mind: _How can these two _not_ be together?_ He just shook his head and waited for them to remember that he was there.

It didn't really bother him, being third wheel sometimes. He knew they still cared about him, but he also knew they _really_ needed to figure out their relationship first. Although, he _had_ noticed that they seemed a lot more comfortable around each other these past few weeks. He wondered vaguely, as they seemed to acknowledge his presence again, if they were secretly dating...

"So, anyways, from there, we connected it to what Clockwork had told us," Danny finished.

"Okay," Tucker finally said, "I get what you guys are saying, and really, it makes no difference to me. Just another thing to add to the list of strange things about us. But how come you guys didn't tell me when you figured out what was going on?" He asked, sounding a bit hurt.

"We're sorry, Tuck," Sam said, and she sounded like she meant it, "It's not like we were going to keep it from you forever or anything, and we were going to tell you any day now, really," This, Tucker could believe. He could see how much it had hurt them to keep it a secret. "But we weren't _positive_ of anything, and it wasn't something concrete, like a new ghost power or something, that we could be sure of. And I think the fact that we were fighting so hard against it, and trying to hide it, made us even _less_ convinced. But all that's down the drain now, after what happened today. We pretty much decided that this wasn't going away only in the past few days, so we really _were_ just about to tell you.." She looked like she felt really bad about everything, and Danny put his arm around her shoulder. Tucker decided it was about time to lighten the mood.

"I get it Sam," he smiled at them, "You guys didn't wanna set off a false alarm. I know you wouldn't have kept it from me forever." Sam seemed thankful that he understood, and from there, things pretty much went back to normal.

So, they finished their meals, ignored some more stares, and made their way over to Sam's house to drop off her back pack on their way to Danny's.

Danny and Tucker were waiting outside while Sam ran inside quickly to let her grandmother know where she was going.

"So, I was kinda wondering something..." Tucker began.

"Yeah?" Danny looked away from the door where Sam had disappeared to look at Tucker expectantly.

"Why did you need to overshadow your parents, if they already know your secret?"

"Oh, I just wanted to make sure they didn't give away the fact that we lied, by not knowing what the story was. I apologized after for doing it, but they said it was fine, and--" He stopped abruptly, and he turned to stare at the door again, his eyes narrowed. Tucker hadn't seen his ghost sense go off, but maybe he'd missed it.

"Ghost?" He asked, but Danny merely shook his head. Then his eyes widened, and he ran up the door and phased into the house. Tucker followed behind, but had to stop to open the door. When he finally made it inside, he didn't have to go far.

"Sam?" Danny was asking her. She was standing next to the stairs with a fancy white sheet of paper in her hand, "Are you okay?" She looked up and seemed to realize they were both there, and the pained look on her face smoothed out to be covered by what could only be described as a mask of indifference. Her and Danny's eyes locked for only a second, and then he relaxed and seemed to understand whatever was going on. He tried to play it off.

"Sorry, you were taking a while...Ready to go?"

"Yeah, sorry," she obviously seemed determined to ignore whatever had happened too, "Let's go," she smiled, and they all made their way to Danny's.

* * *

**A/N: Okay, so not too long on the update this time. I'm glad I got it done today, cause I have quite a bit of homework and reading to do for french tomorrow, so I might not be able to write any more this weekend.**

**Also, I would really appreciate it if you guys could please go to my profile and read the description of a story I'm planning to post. I don't have a name for it yet, though I have written most of the first chapter, but if anything comes to mind, I'd be greatful if you'd tell me! Just let me know if you think it's a good idea or not, cause I don't want to write it if nobody wants me to. :D**

**Thanks for reading everyone! Your reviews last chapter were really helpful!**


	13. Chapter 13

Inevitable

Chapter 13

Danny lay in his bed that night, waiting. Tucker and Sam had gone home hours ago, and then he'd explained to his parents _in detail_ the exact happenings of that day up until the moment they'd arrived in the gym. He'd only finished talking to them about a half hour ago, and now he was waiting for Sam to give him the okay to come over. When he'd felt the surge of panic outside her house earlier, he hadn't thought twice about rushing in after her. It had taken him less than a second to gather everything once he'd gotten in there, and then all he could do was try to comfort her with his eyes. He'd always found it so unfair that such a great person like Sam had gotten stuck with the type of parents that she had. And now _this_. Her grandmother had been her only ally in that house, and now she was gone, passed away in her sleep. And all that her parents had had to offer her was a stupid letter. How unfair...

Abruptly, he stood up. He could go over to Sam's now. He transformed and flew out his window.

It wasn't like most people might think, the connection thing. It wasn't like sending messages back and forth in their heads like some built-in instant messenger. It was just about _knowing_ things. _Understanding,_ unconditionally, whatever the other understood. It was more about feelings than anything else. And when he'd ran into her house earlier, and had taken the second to process everything going through his head, and _hers_, he'd understood what had happened in that instant.

* * *

Sam got up from her bed where she'd been reading a book a moment ago. She put the book on her overflowing shelf, and turned towards the window, sighing. At that moment, he flew through the window, crushing he in a hug.

"I'm so sorry, Sam," he wispered. She took a deep breath.

"I think...I'm okay," she said, looking up at his eyes as they faded from green to blue when he changed. "I mean, I miss her, but I've known this was coming for a while now, and at least she's alright now, right?"

"Yeah," he agreed, sighing. He lead her over to the bed where they sat down.

"So, are you up for school tomorrow, or should I bring over some food at lunchtime?" He asked.

"Oh, I'm going," he looked at her disapprovingly. "Well, I'm not staying here. My parents are coming by tomorrow, and I don't wanna be here.." He gave her hand a squeeze.

"Well, you could always stay at my house," he suggested. "You know my parents love you," he grinned.

She smiled back, "Yeah, and you know how much I appreciate that. But I really don't think staying in tomorrow is a good idea, and..." she hesitated, looking away. "I really don't want to be away from you right now, if that's okay.." she blushed.

He pulled her into another hug, "Of course, Sam. We'll stick together, alright?" She nodded, and then smiled up at him when he released her.

"You're such a great person Danny," she sighed. "I really don't deserve a friend like you," she said, and then yawned.

He snorted, "You do realized you've got it backwards, right?" She rolled her eyes, and then sighed again, turning around to go to bed.

She was out in less than a minute, and for a few moments afterwards, Danny just stood there, deep in thought, enjoying her serenity as she slept. Then, catching a glimpse of the clock on her nightstand, he sighed, kissed her on the forehead, and made his way back home.

* * *

The next morning found Danny, Sam, and Tucker making their way to school. Well, they were currently taking a quick pit stop to suck up Technus into the thermos, but that only took a second. Tucker distracted him by flashing his recently upgraded PDA around, while Sam snuck up behind him. Danny didn't even have to change. He only watched from the sides with a bemused expression on his face, grateful for the small break. A few minutes later, they were en route again, turning the last corner towards the school.

When they made it to school grounds, it was safe to say that their classmates and teachers alike had _not_ had their fill of gawking yesterday. They still stared at Sam like she had pink on or something. As for Danny, well, he may as well have just transformed on the spot.

As they approached the door, a call from behind them stopped them in their tracks.

"Hey, Fenton!" Though they all recognized the voice, the words sounded strange. For one, they didn't sound quite as angry as usual. And then there was the fact that Dash had used Danny's last name, instead of some warped version of it, though no one was complaining.

Danny turned around hesitantly, "Yeah?" He eyed Dash, trying to figure his motives out. "Look," he began, conscious of all the eyes on him,"Whatever you're going to say, I--"

But he was interrupted. Every student and teacher there turned their attention to the end of the road, squinting, or otherwise trying to determine the source of the loud explosion.

* * *

**A/N: Again, it's been a really long time. I've been working on the other story, and although I had access to a computer in Mexico, it cost 8 bucks an hour, so my time was limited. I would've updated yesterday, except for the massive french project I had. I know they're pathetic excuses, but I'm sorry, and I hope you can forgive me.**

**I might get a chance to write another chapter sometime over this long weekend, but I know I always say that after I post a chapter, so again, no promises, but I'll do my very best.**

**Sorry for the pathetic attempt at a cliffhanger, but I'm trying!**

**I really can't thank you all enough for the reviews and feedback on my other story idea the last time I posted. I can't believe how great everyone has been! Thank you!!**

**-chris**


	14. Chapter 14

Inevitable

Chapter 14

There was a turmoil of activity and panic as all the students rushed out to the sidewalk to see what was going on, though most already had a pretty good idea. The cloud of smoke, thick and heavy above the rooftops and businesses not two blocks over was an adequate clue. And then there were the sirens in the distance.

It had happened once before, but the building had been nearly abandoned at eleven o'clock at night, save for a janitor, who managed to escape unscathed, and got to tell his story over and over to local news stations about how he was the only person to ever be caught in a "ghost-arson" fire.

The signs were all there: The fact that it had been an _explosion_ to start the fire, how fast it had spread to the entirety of the local movie theatre, and then there was Skulker, inconspicuously flying away in the distance.

Danny didn't crowd around the edge of the street on his toes like most of his classmates while the teachers tried to coax them all inside. Instead, he dashed around the side of the building, Sam and Tucker hot on his heels. When he transformed, he reluctantly turned to look at his friends. Sam was pleading him with her eyes, but even _she_ knew it was useless.

They had discovered about six months ago that fire could indeed harm ghosts. It had something to do with the fact that they were cold, but they were pretty vulnerable when it came to regular old flame, almost as much as humans. Of course, Danny had his ice powers, which made him substantially less helpless in a burning building, but the risk was still there.

Because of this fact, fire was one of Sam's biggest fears. Danny knew this, and tried to comfort her by playing it off, but he could only do so much in the present situation. He grabbed both of his friends and flew off towards a scene right out of their nightmares.

When they arrived, they were relieved to see that most of the daytime movie-goers had made it out alright. A fireman informed Danny that there were a few people who'd been on the other end of the building at the time of the explosion, mostly personnel, who'd only managed to make it to the roof. They were trying to get them down, but they were worried it might take too long, and that the roof would collapse by the time they got there. After hearing this information, Danny quickly turned to his friends. Instead of reassuring Sam, though, who already had tears forming at the corners of her eyes, but a fierce and determined look on her face, he turned his attention to Tucker. He looked at him seriously for what seemed like a long moment, but couldn't have been more that five seconds, trying to communicate a message.

There were sirens and crying and shouting and blazing flames, but despite all this, Tucker was pretty sure he understood what Danny was trying to tell him without words. And then, when Danny's eyes quickly flicked over to Sam for half a second, he was sure. Tucker nodded his head, and Danny took off towards the roof of the building.

Sam narrowed her eyes at Tucker when she could no longer see Danny because of the thick smoke, trying to understand the meaning of what had just passed between the two. It was strange for her, not knowing something involving Danny, but he was doing a pretty good job of blocking her out with his mind right now, the way she kept him from knowing her feelings for him. She might have blushed, had she been in another situation.

Tucker had turned his attention behind him, though, to a group of people arriving on scene. Upon closer inspection, they were determined to be most of their classmates. It wasn't uncommon for the majority of the school to skip out when there was a ghost fight nearby that was lasting a while, and the rule apparently applied to ghost fires too. Not that the fire itself was any different than the usual once it got started, but they were almost always bigger, and targeted, and the possibility of a fight afterwards hung in the air. It had gotten to the point where the teachers came too. Everyone cheered when they saw Danny Phantom dissapear into the smoke.

The crowd of kids from their class came to stand by Sam and Tucker. When things like this happened, social status was mostly disregarded for the chance to watch in good company, if only for a few minutes. Sam noticed Tucker take a step back and whisper something in Dash's ear, who looked confused, but thoughtful. They would look over at her every few seconds, and she was just about to give them a piece of here mind, when a bit of cheering erupted, and she turned to see Danny coming back with his first handful of people.

He'd managed to get three adults in one trip, which was pretty good, but Sam resisted the urge to turn and ask a firefighter how many people he thought were on the roof. As if he'd know. But still, she was getting restless. Obviously, Danny was pretty focused on what he was doing, but he was relying on instinct more than anything to guide him, which meant that Sam really had no idea what was going on, because he wasn't thinking about it. The only comfort was that she wasn't getting any feelings of panic or despair from Danny, so she knew he was okay for now.

He set the three women down, all three wearing the movie theatre's uniform, and didn't stay long enough to tell anyone anything, disappearing into the smoke in a matter of seconds.

Just then Tucker and Dash came to stand on either side of her, not looking her way, not saying a word. She looked up at both of them, but they were studiously ignoring her, so she shrugged it off when she saw Danny coming back again, this time, his load lighter. One man and one woman were set down near the ambulances to be checked out.

Danny talked to the same fireman from before, who was talking to him with a serious look on his face, probably discussing how they'd need to make sure everyone was out before Danny started trying to put out the fire, since his methods could cause hypothermia. They weren't far, and Sam began to make her way over towards them. She was stopped, however, by the screaming and wailing of a woman. She was trying to get to where Danny was standing, pleading him with her cries.

"Please!" She cried. "You have to help her! She's still in there!"

A flurry of voices from the crowd discussing the "latest developement" drowned out anything else that was said, but Danny was suddenly right next to the woman, talking in a rush, looking serious, asking her questions about where to find whoever had been left behind.

And then, he nodded, and turned toward the building. Sam felt her stomach lurch, an uneasy feeling overcoming her. This felt different from before. She had a bad feeling something would go wrong. Still, though, she didn't move from her place in between Dash and Tucker when Danny flew back into the building, lower down this time. She wouldn't be found on the roof.

Sam was vaguely aware of the tears running down her cheeks, of the news vans arriving and setting up their cameras, shoving microphones labeled with their news stations in bystanders' and firefighters' faces, trying to get a story out of them. Of Paulina and Kwan and Star and many others like them replying to all their questions, as if they knew much more than what could be gathered by taking a picture of the scene before them. Sam did, however, notice when Dash _didn't_ move from his place at her side to flash his face in front of a camera and microphone, but a moment later, that didn't matter.

"No!" Sam's cry came a second _before_ everyone else heard and saw the building collapse, but if people noticed, they forgot a second later.

Sam couldn't take it anymore. She may not have been getting anything clear from Danny since the ordeal had begun, but she had _definitely_ felt that distinct surge of panic, clear as day. _His_ panic, intensified by her own when she saw the roof and most of the walls collapse. She rocked forward, preparing to make a run for it, when two hands grasped her by the arms. Part of her processed that _this_ had been why they were there, why Tucker had spoken to Dash about her, what Danny had been communicating with his eyes, but in that moment, none of that mattered. Nor did making a scene, apparently. She fought back, kicking and punching and struggling out of their grasp, but she wasn't making much progress.

Despite the collapse of the building, most eyes were on her, save perhaps the firemen and the woman who had begged Phantom about the girl left behind, who was now sobbing freely, sure that all hope was lost. But Sam was still moving, and getting nowhere.

"Sam!" Tucker yelled at her, trying to calm her down. "He'll be okay! Come on, just wait with us!"

And then, it seemed to have worked. She stopped fighting, and shut down. Tucker and Dash relaxed their hold on her when she took a step back, and almost everyone's attention returned to to scene before them when one of the last remaining walls collapsed.

It didn't last long though, when everyone caught sight of Sam running in towards the oncoming cloud of smoke that was just beginning to clear. A few people who looked back to where she'd been a moment before saw that Tucker and Dash were now on the ground, clutching their heads and their stomachs, trying to get their breath back.

About halfway there, though, Sam stopped. She felt calmer. Danny's mind was calmer now, too, trying to communicate to her that he was alright. A young girl, five years old, maybe, came running out of the darkness of the smoke, towards her surprised mother, the crying woman. Everyone watched as Sam started running again, towards Danny Phantom, who they could now see, as the fire was almost out.

And then Sam was in Danny's arms, and everything was alright again. For them, anyway.

"Danny, I swear if you _ever_ pull anything like that again," Sam was wispering threateningly, despite the fact that she was still hugging him, "you're gonna' wish you were still in there."

He didn't respond, didn't move, as he'd suddenly become very tense. It only took half a second for Sam to process why he was so tense, and then she lifted her head up and looked around.

Sure enough, the news reporters and camera men were just making their way over now, having witnessed the whole scene.

Endless questions floated towards them,

_"How do you know Phantom?"_

_"Is that your girfriend?"_

_"A fangirl?"_

_"Are you related?"_

They both cursed their stupidity and forgetfullness, and then they looked at each other, deciding. Reading each other's minds, no pun intended, they half smirked, choosing not to care, and disappeared from sight.

**A/N: So, as you can see, I'm not so great with the intense chapters...Yeah, sorry for the pitiful attempt, but I **_**did**_** somehow manage to get this up so soon, and I'm actually kinda proud of myself for that. I really tried with this one, and I did my best, but I'm still sorry for sucking.**

**Thank you all so much for the amazing reviews from the last chapter! Love you all! :D**

**-chris**


	15. Chapter 15

Inevitable

Chapter 15

Three days. _Three days_. How long could they possibly harrass her? The media was cruel, Sam decided.

Danny had flown them back to his house on friday where she'd bandaged up the few burns and scrapes he had, though there wasn't much. She'd forgiven him for what he'd made Tucker do, and, of course, they'd discussed their slip-up with the media then, and had decided that they couldn't possiby be that obsessed with Sam, and would leave her alone after a day or two.

Not a chance. They were still camping out in their vans outside the Fenton's, where Sam was still staying. Someone had called her house and determined that no one was there, or no one was answering. They'd then called the Fentons' home, having been informed that Sam was a good friend of theirs, and she'd answered, not realizing the danger. Word had gotten out where she was hiding out, and now the news vans were parked on the side of the road, just in front of the house.

Of course they'd made the front page of the paper Saturday _and_ Sunday, with headlines such as "Phantom's Girlfriend?" and the picture of them hugging after the fire. Sam was afraid to check today's paper.

And now it was monday. Sam hadn't gone to school, for obvious reasons. Even though the media wasn't allowed on school grounds, there were still the other kids at school. She could imagine it now. More staring, endless questions. _Ugh..._

Unfortunately, it seemed that the media had come to the same conclusion she had: She would have to go outside sooner or later. For the moment, though, her plan seemed to be later, rather than sooner.

Her parents had left two messages on her cell phone, grilling her about "putting the family name at risk," but that was about it from them.

Her and Danny were currently camping out on the couch, watching reruns with the curtains closed, and waiting for Jazz and Danny's parents to get home.

"_Ugh!_" Sam exclaimed for about the hundredth time that weekend. "I can't _take_ this anymore! How can they be so obsessed?" she ranted.

"I know," Danny agreed, albeit more calmly. "I mean, they're harassing my ghost side even _more_ than usual, so I haven't even caught Skulker yet. And Tucker called me at lunch, said they're even harrassing him and Jazz!" He wasn't so calm anymore. They were both fuming on the couch now.

At that moment, the front door burst open. They both stood up, on high alert, but it was only Jazz, followed closely by Maddie and Jack, who gave them sympathetic looks before heading down to the lab to do some more work.

"Hey, guys," Jazz smiled half-heartedly. "How're you holding up?"

"Us?" Sam and Danny said together.

"You're the one who had to go out _there,_" Sam gestured with her head to the window, shuddering involuntarily.

"Yeah, but they're not after _me,_" she replied, sitting down on the end of the couch as they sat back down as well.

"So what are we gonna do?" Sam finally asked. "I can't hide out here forever, but they won't leave!"

"Well," Jazz said, a thoughtful expression appearing on her face. Danny and Sam immediately brightened, knowing the look all too well.

"Don't look _too_ excited guys," she said, reading their minds. "It's not much of a plan. I was just thinking that maybe we could get the media off our backs by giving them what they want," she explained.

Both Sam and Danny's eyes widened at the same time. It might have looked funny, if it weren't for the alarming situation.

"You wanna throw me to the sharks?" Sam exclaimed, utterly petrified at the idea.

"No, no," Jazz assured them quickly, "I don't mean like that. I just meant, well, we've got tons of messages on our answering machines from morning shows and other news shows, practically _begging_ you for an interview. If we find _one_ good one, Sam can go on it, explain that it'll be her _only_ appearance to answer questions and clear things up. Of course you'll have to get the story straight first, and tell them which questions _not _to ask, but you could tell them that you're only doing it so they'll leave you alone..." She was babbling now. She looked up to see their reactions to her idea. Danny looked much calmer. Sam looked worse than before.

"I mean," Jazz continued, "it won't do much for the kids at school, but it's better than forcing yourself to go outside and have them quoting you to make it look like you said something that you didn't."

"I guess..." Sam finally said, though she didn't look too excited.

"Great!" Jazz said, smiling brightly. "I'll go find one that sounds reasonable, and I'll get everything sorted out!" She practically skipped off to the kitchen.

"It'll be okay, Sam," Danny soothed her. "You won't have to answer anything you don't want to."

She nodded, still uneasy.

"Come on," he said, standing up and dragging her up with him. "Tucker will be here in a bit. He said he'd rent us some movies, since we're on lockdown and everything, but he has to stop at home and at the movie store first, and with all the media and fans in general mobbing him, he should be a while. You wanna go for a flight?"

She smiled a bit and nodded, and Danny transformed and grabbed her around the waist, turning them both invisible and intangible.

It was something they liked to do to relax them both. For Sam, it was the ability to leave everything, her problems, her life, behind her, and the fact that it was with Danny. For Danny, well, it was mostly about being with Sam for him, but he also enjoyed the ability to pass the clouds and feel close to the stars, no matter the weather.

They flew around just outside of town until the endless forests made them forget all their troubles, just enjoying each others' company. All too soon, Danny's cell phone rang. It was Jazz, informing them of which show she picked, and that Tucker was there. Sighing, Danny hung up and they headed back home.

They phased through the ceiling into the living room, startling Tucker, who was sitting on the couch with his PDA in his face. Jazz was still in the kitchen, on the phone again, but she quickly hung up and made her way into the room when she heard them. And now they were all seated on the couch, Jazz with a notebook on her lap, trying to keep up with everything they were saying. They were making a list of questions Sam _wouldn't_ answer and other rules to tell the producers when they got there. Jazz had scheduled the interview for tomorrow morning at eleven. "The sooner we get it out of the way, the better," as she'd told Sam, who was _not_ pleased with her lack of time to prepare. They never ended up watching the movie Tucker had gotten, and pretty soon, Sam was ready to turn in early.

As Tucker left, he promised to be there around eight thirty the next morning, as none of them would be going to school. Jazz went back to the kitchen to finalize everything. Sam had made them promise that none of them would be there at the studio with her during the interview, though Tucker and Jazz didn't know whether or not that rule applied to Danny.

Danny settled Sam in on the couch, where she'd chosen to sleep, and went up to bed himself, sensing that she wanted to be alone for the moment. Sam took the moment to think about tomorrow, about how everyone would act around her _after_ tomorrow. At first, it would probably be like she was some celebrity or something..._ugh_

They'd had to to get their story straight. She couldn't exactly claim that she was just some fangirl, since Danny had hugged her back and flown her away and everything. And then there was the fact that she was _Sam_, and no one would believe for a second that she was a _fangirl_.

Despite all the craziness though, she realized something; she was _alright_. Danny had been apologizing constantly to her for the whole weekend, saying that none of this would be happening to her if it weren't for him. But she realized that if this was the worst she would have to deal with, being Danny's friend, then that was okay. It wasn't nearly as bad as if she had to stay away from him. In fact, the whole reason she _could_ deal with it all was him. And even though she wasn't exactly looking forward to tomorrow, she knew she'd be okay, because this whole "connection" thing between the two of them meant that they were never really alone, and he never really had to leave her tomorrow.

* * *

The next morning was hectic, to say the least. There were five people, and two bathrooms. Sam was apparently the only one who had foreseen this dilemma, so she had planned to get up extremely early to take a shower, straighten her hair, and have a few minutes of time to herself.

This was much easier said than done, however. She'd set her cell phone to vibrate, plugged it in, and stuck it under her pillow. The idea was to have it wake her without waking anyone else. However, she hadn't factored in the fact that she'd spent over a year on constant alert for ghosts, and she wasn't used to be taken off guard. In fact, her reflexes were almost as good as Danny's now. And while this was very useful when battling Skulker, it was apparently not so good for vibrating cell phones. Having been startled, she'd accidentally thrown the cell phone into the wall, effectively breaking it into at least two pieces.

When she realized what she'd done, she sighed and went over to examine the damage. The battery had come off, and the cover—a decoration of skulls in black and white—had cracked in one place, but the fact that it was still vibrating assured her that it would survive.

"Yeah, who needs modern technology anyway, right?"

Sam whirled to see the redhead in the doorway.

"Jazz!"

"'Morning," she mocked. "Oh, and if you were aiming for the reporters, you missed. They're about 8 feet to your left, out the window."

"Oh, ha ha," Sam replied when she regained her composure. "What are you doing up so early, anyway?"

"Shouldn't I be asking _you_ that, miss 'Creature of the Night'?" she mocked. "Actually," she continued, "I was _going_ to sleep in for another half hour or so, but I was awoken by _something_ crashing against the wall." She sent a pointed glance Sam's way.

"Oh," she said, realizing her mistake, "do you think I woke anyone else? I meant to be quiet…" she trailed off, her cheeks coloring.

"Nah," Jazz replied nonchalantly. "The men in this house sleep like logs," she rolled her eyes, "and my mom has slept next to my dad long enough to know to wear earplugs. You're in the clear," she smiled. Sam sighed.

"Nervous?" Jazz guessed.

"Yeah."

"Just remember," Jazz encouraged, "You're the one who knows the story here. They want to hear what _you_ have to say. _You_ hold the power to say what you need to, what you want to."

"Yeah, I think I understand that," she said, frowning. "But what if I screw up? What if I say too much and Danny's secret gets spilled? I mean, he's told me over and over that he doesn't care, that he's planning to let the world know at some point, that I could go up there and announce it and it wouldn't matter to him, but I still worry about him. I mean, the Guys In White could show up at our door to come take him away because I accidentally let too much slip! We didn't keep this secret all this time just because we felt like it, Jazz. It's for his safety, his privacy. I can't let anything happen to him." She was worked up now, imagining all the horrible possibilities.

"Sam, you're thinking too much," Jazz reassured her. "Danny can take care of himself. And trust me. If I know anything, it's that he wouldn't go anywhere without you. You won't lose him," she smiled.

Sam, feeling only a little better, sighed and nodded, deciding that things would work themselves out, as they always did.

"Thanks Jazz," she said, moving towards her bag of clothes in the corner.

"No problem," she said, "Anyways, I'm gonna' let you get ready, and I should probably start getting my stuff together soon too. It's gonna get pretty crazy around here in an hour or so when everyone else wakes up," she said, leaving the room.

Sam had already gotten a quick shower and had dried and straightened her hair before Danny was up to steal the bathroom, and the rest of the morning seemed, well, routine, like any other school morning. Except for the constant reminder in all of their heads that it _wasn't_ just like any other school morning. Tucker came over early, as promised, and they all headed over to the news station around nine thirty.

Or, rather, _attempted_ to. They had forgotten the tiny little detail that the media, double in size after hearing of her interview, was still camped out on the front lawn. They were crowded around the R.V. the moment it started moving, and it seemed that the only way they would get out was to run them over, which it seemed that Maddie was contemplating, when Danny finally sighed and told her to go back into the garage.

"Why?" Maddie wondered.

"It's okay Mrs. Fenton, just trust him," Sam answered for him, and Maddie couldn't help but raise an eyebrow as she shifted gears and drove back into the garage. Danny leaned forward to push the button to close the door, and then calmly sat back and waited.

When it was closed, with the reporters safely outside, he finally spoke. "I'm going to turn the R.V. invisible and intangible. Mom? Dad? I have to warn you. It's gonna feel a little wierd," his parents nodded. "If it's too much for you to drive it, I can change and just fly the whole R.V. there, but it should be fine." And then everyone felt the drop in their stomach, the icy feeling overwhelming them.

Sam was well used to this, and didn't even seem to be paying attention when Maddie drove _through_ all the reporters who had once blocked their way. She just stared out the window, or rather, through the _door_ until they were far enough away to turn into a relatively abandoned street and come back into view.

Danny sagged back into his seat next to her when he was finally able to relax. However, as soon as his thoughts were in order, he was overcome by the uncertainty and fear that Sam was feeling. And all because she was afraid of spilling _his_ secret. He tried to reassure her, comfort her without even speaking, but she just turned and gave him a weak smile as if to say "What do you want me to do? I can't help it if I'm afraid."

Danny reached his hand over to grasp hers, sending her a reassuring smile. Without words, he told her what he'd told her before: "What happens, happens. Everything will turn out the way it's supposed to. I trust you." And just when Sam was beginning to feel better, they turned the last corner, and the news station loomed ahead.

* * *

**A/N: Okay, so I don't know if they _really_ have a garage, but let's just say they put one in around the side after they had to move the house back from the beach after the whole Technus thing, 'kay?**

**Anyways, sorry that my updates seem to be on a two week basis, as opposed to one week, but I've been working on the other story a bit..I know it's not what you want to hear, cause I'm not currently _posting_ the other story, and you're right, it's not fair, but when an idea hits, I have to write it down the way I like it before it slips away!**

**Also, you should all send a big thank-you to ArtGirl4, who pressed me to post this _today_, since it was finished, and who helped me put my distractions aside to edit it and post it. Thank you! I'm gonna PM you back now!**

**Thanks for all the reviews from the last chapter! They were _so_ helpful! Thank you, thank you, thank you!! God Bless!**

**-chris**


	16. Chapter 16

Inevitable

Chapter 16

"Sam, _relax_," Danny tried to reassure her for the hundredth time since the crew had begun to poke her with make up and equipment and tiny microphones that rested on her shirt to catch her _every word_.

"Danny, how can I? And how can _you_, for that matter? I mean, I'm going out _there_," she pointed towards the stage to her left, "to talk about y...I mean to talk about Phantom! Aren't you nervous?"

She was frustrated about having to talk around the secret with all the stagehands around them, currently adding more makeup to her face. She'd tried to refuse, explaining that she didn't need ten pounds of foundation, but the makeup artist had launched into explanations about how the shine from the stage lights, and the glare from the camera...all the words had eventually mushed together until they meant nothing to Sam, and so she'd let them do what they wanted, occasionally checking in the mirror to make sure they didn't try to tone down any of the colors she'd chosen to emphasize the fact that she was still goth. Cameras or no cameras, she wasn't changing who she was because she was afraid of what the world thought of her.

"Sam, I'm only worried that you're gonna burst an artery or something from all the worrying _you're_ doing. I don't care what you say out there. You could trash Phantom's name, for all I care. It doesn't matter to me." He gave her a smile. She only sighed and sat back in her seat to wait out the next five minutes or so.

Most of the morning had consisted of them explaining to the producers what questions _not_ to ask, and all the other rules they'd decided on. At first they'd refused to let Sam bring anyone backstage, but when Jazz had reminded them that Sam had plenty of other shows she could be on, they'd easily caved and allowed her to bring Danny.

"Five minutes!" a woman that Sam recognized as the producer called, and the everything in the room visibly sped up. The producer, who'd introduced herself to them as JCP, and who Sam had to admit was pretty cool, then made her way over to the pair, who'd finally been left alone by most of the stagehands.

"Alright Sam, we're gonna need to bring you out onto the set now, okay?" she smiled apoligetically, easily taking in how nervous she was to be away from her friend. Sam just nodded, and turned to give Danny a hug.

"Don't even think about it," she whispered to him sternly, but she couldn't help the half smile that appeared on her lips when she pulled away and he mock-saluted her.

As JCP led her to her comfortable chair on the set, she turned back around to see that Danny had indeed vanished. She honestly wasn't surprised, though. She knew her warning hadn't been taken seriously.

The host came over then and took her seat next to Sam. They'd also met earlier. Tiffany Snow was nicer than Sam had expected, maybe a little too peppy, and, despite her job in a small town, she had interviewed several big names, many that Sam recognized, and had remembered watching on the show.

"How are you feeling?" Tiffany asked her. Sam sent her a disbelieving look. "Sorry, standard question," she said apologetically.

"I just wish I didn't have to do this," Sam finally admitted.

"Well, I'm going to try to make this as easy as possible, alright? Just pretend there are no cameras, and it's just you and me having a conversation on our own, alright? I mean, I really _am_ curious to hear what you have to say. Just pretend I'm the only one, okay?" Sam nodded. That actually sounded reassuring. She gathered that she wasn't the first guest on the show that Tiffany had had to calm down, though.

At that moment, a man behind the camera began a countdown from ten, and Sam took a deep breath. She could distantly hear the shows opening credits coming to an end as the man silently counted the last three numbers with his fingers.

"And we're back with special guest, Sam Manson, who has very kindly agreed to join us today on the show to talk about Danny Phantom," she turned to speak to Sam then, and winked at her with the eye that the camera couldn't see. Sam smiled in return, "It's great to have you here Sam. So I guess we're going to start with how you know Danny Phantom. Would you mind telling us a little about that?"

Sam took another deep breath, "Well, Danny's a good friend of mine. We've known each other for a while, long before he died when he was fourteen," she stated calmly. This was part of their story. If they wanted to avoid suspicion about Danny being a half-ghost, they had to make it very clear that he was dead. However, Tiffany, and everyone else watching for that matter, was visibly taken aback by her casual reference to the fact. But the host quickly regained her composure.

"I see. Well, I have to say, that's not something you hear often. So has it been hard? Being friends with someone who's, well..." she trailed off, at a loss for words, and suddenly _Sam_ was the one helping _her_ out.

"Dead? Well, not really. I mean, the scariest part was when it actually happened. It was a really sudden, an accident. But those few moments when I thought he was gone for good..." she trailed off, lost in real memories of the portal accident. "Well, it was the scariest few seconds of my life. I mean, some people might have been freaked out to all of a sudden see their best friend, staring at them with these big, glowing green eyes, _floating_. But I guess I didn't really see all that. All I saw was that he was still there, that he wasn't gone forever..." she suppressed a shudder and smiled slightly at Tiffany. "As for the other stuff though, the stuff I noticed _after_, when we realized what had happened, well, I knew I at least owed it to him to help him figure it out. And a lot of the time, it was really cool, learning about his powers, and the stuff he could do," she said honestly.

Tiffany, who seemed totally absorbed in what Sam was saying, snapped out of it and moved onto the next question on the small screen behind Sam, "Wow. So what did you do then? I mean, after you found out that he was dead," she hesitated on the word, "did you tell his family?"

Sam, feeling more comfortable by the second, launched into the explanation they'd prepared, deciding to keep it pretty close to the truth. "Not at first. I mean, the accident happened about a month before ghosts _really_ started to haunt Amity Park, and during that time we were still trying to figure everything out. And then the ghosts _did_show up, and we decided we couldn't just let people get hurt, not when Danny had the ability to do something about it. So he fought them. He protected people. And we were thinking about telling his parents, but then Danny got declared Public Enemy Number 1, and he was afraid they wouldn't believe that he was trying to help," she said honestly. She felt bad about how Maddie and Jack might feel then, even though they knew that this was the story they were going with. "So we waited, and then people finally started to get it that Danny was only trying to help. So he told them. Really, they were more relieved than anything just to know that he was okay," she said.

"I can imagine," Tiffany answered truthfully. This was obviously turning out to be more than she'd expected. Secretly, she'd assumed that Sam had just been some fangirl who had gotten close to Phantom from all the times he'd saved her or something. It was certainly a shock to hear _this_ story. "So I guess it must be strange, to see your best friend all over the news everyday."

"Well, as it turns out, you can get used to just about anything. I mean, believe it or not, I'm there almost every time he's in a fight. Not in plain view, of course, because we were trying to keep me as inconspicuous as possible. Of course, all that's out the window after Friday. But I'm pretty sure he's a little more careful to keep himself safe when I'm around, 'cause he knows how mad I'd be if he ever let anything happen to himself. And then I also help him out sometimes too. At first he wouldn't let me, saying it was 'too dangerous' for me," she said truthfully, rolling her eyes, "But eventually he learned that even though he can fight, there are some things he _can't_ do while he's in the middle of a battle. Like uncapping and activating the thermos, for example," at the host's confused look, she quickly explained, "The thermos is what we use to capture ghosts in. You've probably seen him use it a quite a bit. Or seen a big blue light coming out of nowhere to suck the ghost away. That's usually me," she smiled, knowing it was true, because Tucker's aim was still too bad to be trusted with the thermos. "So I guess it was stranger to actually see him fighting than to just see him on the news. Especially since before he died, he was pretty uncoordinated," she suppressed a giggle. She could basically see him rolling his eyes at her then.

Tiffany _did_ laugh. And then she asked about something that Sam _knew_ was coming.

"So what was he like before he died? Was his name Danny then too?" she pressed.

"No," Sam said, flat-out lying, knowing it was necessary, "Danny didn't want to be the same person he was before," this was true enough, though, "He sort of wanted to start over. 'Danny' had always been one of his favorite names, and some of the ghosts he fought sometimes called him 'Phantom,' so we went with 'Danny Phantom.' It definitely suits him, though," she added truthfully.

"I see," Tiffany answered. "That's certainly understandable. I hope he knows how much we appreciate his help in protecting the town."

"Yeah," Sam answered, thinking about it. "I see how much he gives up to help people, and I know there are tons of things he could be doing instead. I mean, dead or not, he's still a teenage boy. He's still really into video games and stuff. But he hardly has time for any of that anymore, and he's okay with that, because he really does care about the town, and about protecting people. I'm really glad people can finally see what a hero he is," she said smiling.

"I know _I'm_ thankful," Tiffany replied. "But what about you? I mean, you've given up quite a bit, just being his friend."

Sam was surprised to hear this, mostly because it was what Danny believed. But in all the time that Danny had been a ghost, Sam had never believed that knowing him took away anything from her life. "I don't believe that," she answered earnestly. "Danny's an incredible person, and sometimes I wish the world could see _that_ part of him too, not just the ghost part. I've never regretted trading being normal to be his friend. It's worth it, a thousand times over."

"Wow." Tiffany, in all of her years as a talk show host slash news reporter, had never come this close to being speechless in her life. "That's truly amazing, Sam," she scrambled to remember to look up at the screen to check the next question. "Um, so what kinds of things to you guys do when you're not fighting ghosts? I assume the two of you couldn't just walk into a movie theatre without getting strange looks."

"Well, no, but we _do_do a lot of normal stuff. We can't go to movies, but we rent them," and then Sam thought of something she could say to prove their normalcy, because it was true. "One time, Danny wanted to go bowling, but we couldn't exactly do _that_, so we went to my back yard, and we set up a makeshift bowling alley, with a basketball and bottles. It was kinda strange, but mostly it was just fun. I'd bet we had a better time than most people would have had on a real bowling alley," she said, smiling to herself at the memory. "And, yeah, some of the stuff we do when we're not fighting ghosts _is_ kinda strange. Like every now and then, we test his powers, to see his improvement. I think a lot of people would be amazed by how far he's come since the beginning. Anyways, that's always a lot of fun to do."

"That's good, though. That you guys find time to do stuff for fun," Tiffany smiled. "So, Obviously, having him as your friend makes life quite a bit more interesting. Has anything really strange or funny happened because of who he is?"

At this, Sam had to laugh, "Oh, yeah. All the time. Like just a few weeks ago, I was at school, and he came and told me during lunch that this pretty powerful ghost was loose, and that he might be late to help me with my homework later. He didn't mean to worry me, but I guess he kinda realized that I was panicking for the rest of the day. So when he finished fighting the ghost, I was still in my last period class, and he came to tell me that he was done. I guess I must have looked _really_ worried, cause he stuck his head up through my desk while I was writing a test to cheer me up." she said, grinning. She wondered briefly if Mr. Lancer was watching, and, if so, what he thought of that.

"That must have been...interesting," Tiffany replied, trying not to laugh.

"Oh, it was. I was so surprised that I jumped out of my seat, and then burst out laughing. Of course, by then he'd gone invisible, so I had to try to explain to my teacher why I'd gone into hysterics in the middle of a test," she paused, then added, "Sorry Mr. Lancer," with a big grin on her face. At this, everyone, the entire audience and Tiffany included, burst into laughter.

When the hostess had regained control, she said, "Well, I can imagine that some of the parts of being Danny's friend have made you seem a little wierd in the past."

Sam laughed again, "Well, not too often. But I guess I don't know very many people who would describe me as normal, Danny included."

"Alright, so we have a few questions that viewers have sent in to ask you, if that's okay?" Tiffany asked.

"Yeah, that's fine," Sam said, finally feeling at ease on the show. Honestly, she thought it would be stressful to have to avoid anything that might spill Danny's secret, and therefore, no fun. But she realized that the half-lies came as easily as ever, and that she _was_ having fun.

"Okay," Tiffany said, looking down at a sheet of paper she'd picked up from the side of her chair, "The first is from Ashlee. It says: "What kinds of things does Danny like? What's his favorite food and his favorite color?"

"Oh, hah, well," Sam said, pretending to have to think about it, "His favorite food is actually the Nasty Burger, so I sometimes have to get him some. And his favorite color is blue," she stated confidently. These questions, at least, she could answer truthfully. She knew that Danny wouldn't mind telling a few fangirls his favorite color or whatever they might want to know.

"Okay. This next question is from Dash. It says, "I've seen Danny Phantom wear jeans and a t-shirt before, when he wasn't fighting ghosts. Does he wear normal clothes when he's not fighting?"

Sam had to suppress the hysterics that threatened to escape when she heard that one, but she was able to contain herself enough to answer. "Actually, yes he does. This is one of those ghost things. Ghosts can change the clothes they wear, with certain limitations. Like Danny can wear pants and a t-shirt, instead of his jumpsuit, but the shirt would still be black and white, with his emblem on it," she answered, thinking back to the fact that Danny still didn't have very good control over changing his clothes, since they'd never gotten around to practicing it.

"Alright, this next one's actually about the emblem on his chest," Tiffany said. "It's from Greg, and it says, "I always wondered about the emblem on his chest. I don't remember it always being there. Why'd it show up all of a sudden?"

Sam blushed lightly at this, "Oh, um, guilty. I was doodling one day in class and made it up. He saw it later and said he liked it, so we added it."

"Okay, we've got one here from someone named Tucker, and it says, "Did Danny Phantom go to your school before he died?"

Sam nearly cried with joy that they'd decided to read this one. It was indeed from Tuck, who'd promised to send in a few questions that they _wanted_to answer, to help deter suspicion away from Danny's human half. She answered, feeling smug that her idea had worked, "No, actually, he didn't. We met when we were really young, at a park near the outskirts of town. Danny was actually home-schooled before the accident, and we always do my homework together now, because he still wants to have an education. Sometimes, I make photocopies of my tests and give them to him, like as if he really still went to school," she said, still smiling.

"Alright, so this one's from Shannon, it says: "My boyfriend is a firefighter. You might've seen him on friday, I think he was working with Danny Phantom. Anyways, sometimes, he comes home injured, or has to go to the hospital for burns. I can imagine that also happens with Danny. Is it sometimes scary, and hard to let him go off to fight, knowing he might not come back? And does it ever make you feel guilty for not wanting him to go save people?"

Sam was silent for a moment, speechless. It occurred to her then that while she may be the only person to be close like she was to a superhero, but she wasn't the only person to be close like she was to a _hero_. Thousands of other girls and women and mothers and daughters and sisters all around the world had to watch _their_ heroes go off and risk their lives for others, just like she did. When she finally collected herself enough to answer, she realized that a tear had already streaked it's way down her face. But that didn't matter. What mattered was that she got the message across to Shannon that _she_ wasn't alone either.

"Everyday," she finally answered. Tiffany was silent, along with everyone else. "I...He calls me at least once a week to ask me to help bandage him up. Sometimes, it's not too serious. But then other times..." She shook her head to dispel the memories that threatened to come up. "It's the scariest thing in the world, and I'm supposed to go along with my life like he's _not_ out there, fighting for everyone. I mean, he may be dead, but we've seen enough ghost fights and heard enough stories to know that ghosts may not be able to _die_, but they can be _destroyed_. And then, when he's about to go fight a really dangerous ghost, I feel so guilty for asking him not to go. The only way he's able to get me to let him go is by asking me what _I'd_ do, if it were me who was able to protect everyone. He knows that I wouldn't be able to _not_ go, and he uses that against me. But still. He's not the one who has to sit back and watch his best friend nearly get killed everyday." She shook her head, mentally scolding herself for getting so emotional. she turned to the camera then, "Shannon, please tell your boyfriend thank you for helping Danny. I remember him. And thank you. It feels so good to know that I'm not the only one who worries. Your boyfriend is a real hero, too," she said, smiling slightly.

Tiffany smiled at her, "I can't imagine how difficult that must be. Alright, so this next one may have just been answered, but it's from Michelle, and it says: "What's the worst part about having Danny Phantom as your best friend?"

Sam shook her head, and looked down as the pain washed through her. Then, she looked up again at Tiffany, and the hostess, and everyone watching, could see that they were pain-filled. "The worst part isn't that I have to watch him risk his life everyday," she nearly whispered, and backstage, someone had to turn up the volume on her microphone to catch what she was saying. "The worst part is...knowing that it's my fault," a few more tears escaped, "I...If I hadn't been there, on the day of the accident, it wouldn't have happened. He'd still be alive. He'd still have his old life, and he wouldn't have had to give up everything like he did, and risk his life..." she shook her head again, and looked down, ashamed. Then, the microphone, turned up as it was, caught her small gasp as her head snapped up to stare above the hostess' head.

"Oh, now he's in trouble," she mumbled, and then spoke louder, "Alright, Danny, I know you're there, and if you don't show yourself right now, I'm telling everyone about the time that you--" she was cut off as a silver glove appeared out of nowhere to block her mouth. Danny, floating above her in ghost form with a slightly panicked look on his face, looked up when he heard everyone around them gasp, almost in unison. Sam crossed her arms across her chest, sending him a pointed glance, and he released her.

"Heh," he said, looking guilty, "Hi," he waved, his other hand automatically reaching up to rub the back of his neck, a nervous gesture.

At that moment, two stagehands came out from the backstage, carrying another chair.

"Oh, no, I wasn't planning on staying--" Danny began, but was cut off as Sam grabbed his foot and yanked him down to sit on the chair.

"Too bad," she said to him, an evil glint in her eye. "You drop in, you stay," she smirked at him. One of the two stagehands stayed to hand him a tiny microphone, which he proceeded to clip to the collar of his jumpsuit. "Umm, thanks," he mumbled as the man hurried off stage.

"Wow," Tiffany said, looking amazed, "This just got a bit more interesting."

* * *

**A/N: Sooooo, this was a **_**pretty**_**long chapter, dontcha think? It might actually make up for the long time between updates...maybe? Heh, sorry about that anyways...**

**So I'm really sorry if this didn't turn out the way you expected or wanted. I did my best, and that's all I can do, but I really hope you liked it...**

**Anyways, does anyone know what the name 'Shannon' is to me? I've mentioned it before, in an earlier author's note. I'll give you a hint: she likes the Box Ghost!**

**Oh, something I wanted to mention: My brother, Orange Scissors, includes a lot of music into his fic, Historical (which kicks my story's butt, if you didn't know), and, believe it or not, I listen to just about as much music as he does when writing...and during everything else I do. So I guess I'd like to say that if this story had a theme song, it would be either "Let It Happen," by Jimmy Eat World, or "Hands On Me," by Vanessa Carlton. I strongly reccommend these songs guys!**

**Uhm...Oh, yeah! I got an aknonimous review from december's morose, who didn't leave an e-mail address, and to that I have to send a great big THANK YOU! I'm glad you liked it!**

**And I'm not done answering some of the questions, so if there was something else you wanted in there, now would be the time! And let me know of anything in there that didn't make sense to you, okay?**

**Alright, I know I must be forgetting something else, but I can't remember, so I'll get back to you on that one!**

**Thank you all for reading and reviewing the last chapter! God Bless!**

**-chris**


	17. Chapter 17

**Inevitable**

**Chapter 17**

Danny waited impatiently for the room to unfreeze. So far, it had been 26 seconds, and no one had moved or said anything. Not that he was counting.

Finally, Tiffany seemed to react to something loud in her ear, and her attention refocused.

"So!" She began excitedly, "Where were we? Sam? You were saying...?"

"Oh, uhm...Right! The accident," She hesitated, "Well, there's not much to say. I mean, it _was_ entirely my fault. If I hadn't--"

"Stop!" Danny interrupted her. Tiffany seemed surprised by the outburst, but Sam had pretty much known it was coming. She turned guilt-ridden eyes on her best friend.

"Danny," She said quietly, "You can't deny that if I hadn't--"

"Yes, I can," He interrupted her again. "How many times are we going to have this discussion? You didn't kill me!" He pleaded with her to understand. "I made my own choice to do what I did, and I don't regret it at all." Tiffany seemed to be enjoying the fact that she wasn't much needed while the two of them were here. She could mostly sit back and enjoy the show, just like everyone else.

"Why do you think I came here, anyway?" Danny continued, "I knew you were going to try to put the blame on yourself. Honestly, what would that help, telling everyone? So that you could shove it in my face that _other_ people blame you, and that I should too?"

Sam, feeling ashamed, fixed her eyes on the floor.

Danny continued, his tone lighter, "Sam," He said, unconsiously taking her hand, "_I_ don't blame you, and I was there. Besides, if it had been the other way around, and it was _you_, I _know_ you wouldn't blame anyone. You'd just say that you make your own choices, and no one could've stopped you," he said.

Sam sighed in defeat, knowing he had her there.

Tiffany hesitated, "So, were you ready to move onto the next question?"

Sam looked up, half smiling in thanks, "Yes, please," she said, and Danny rolled his eyes.

"Do I really have to be here for this?" he pleaded with her.

"Oh, yes. Like I said, you drop in, you stay. Too bad, ghost boy. You're in for the duration," Sam replied triumphantly.

"Alright," Tiffany said, smiling at their bickering, "The next question is also from Michelle. It says: 'What's the _best_ part about having Danny Phantom as your best friend?'"

Sam let out a breath she didn't know she was holding, relaxing at the easier question, and then grinned, knowing what was about to happen.

"Flying." Both Sam and Danny answered at the same time, and Tiffany raised an eyebrow. Sam continued, explaining, "Well, not at first, when I had to _watch_ him fly. Ugh! I still haven't forgiven you for that!" She said, turning on Danny.

"Oh, comon! It was funny!" He said, defending himself.

"For _you!_" She countered. She turned to Tiffany to explain, but Danny beat her to it.

"When we were still trying to figure out my powers, and I was learning to fly, I convinced Sam to come with me to the roof of a pretty tall building in town to practice. She was pretty against it, afraid I was gonna get hurt, but I just told her that if I fell, I'd just go intangible and phase through the ground. So, when we went up, I thought she looked a little too wound up, so I played a little trick on her..."

"Yeah, some trick! You pretended to be falling to your death, you moron! I nearly jumped over after you before I saw you level out ten feet down!" Sam vented, smacking him lightly upside the head, and Tiffany was shocked at how unafraid she was of the ghost beside her. It seemed that Sam had him at _her_ mercy. He was even holding her hand, she observed.

"_Ow!_" Danny complained half-heartedly, rubbing the back of his head. "You're so abusive," he joked, and Sam just rolled her eyes.

"Oh, I'm abusive? Don't you remember when you scorched my computer?" she countered.

"That was an _accident_," he defended himself. "I was still getting used to the ectoblasts," he muttered, and Tiffany stifled a laugh.

"So, uhm, yeah," Sam said, returning to the question. "He's taken me flying a couple times, and it's pretty amazing," she explained.

"Wow," Tiffany said, "I don't think that's something I'd have the guts for. But I'm not so good with heights," she smiled. "So we've also got a lot of people calling in with questions. Would it be alright if you answered a few before we're done?"

Sam didn't need to turn to Danny to get his okay, she merely replied with a "Yep, that's fine," for the both of them.

"Alright, then, we'll go to the first caller. You're on the air."

"Hello?" came a muffled, female voice. "Wow, okay, I'm Brandy. I was just wondering, and I know it's a really pushy question, but are you two, like dating? Cause it definitely seems that way, no offence or anything."

_Offence taken_, Sam thought dryly to herself, but then remembered that she was still holding Danny's hand, and blushed slightly, realizing how it must look.

"Well, I guess I knew this one was coming," she said, and then sighed. "So, we're gonna say this once, and mean it. No, we are not dating. We're just really close friends, and we'd really appreciate it if the world could believe us."

"Okay," Brandy continued. "But what about on friday? Good friends don't usually hug like that, and hold hands," she said pointedly, and Danny released Sam's hand.

"Well," Sam sighed again, "I mean, I guess facing death a lot can really remind you not to take time for granted. You never know how much time you have with someone, even your best friend," she said solemnly. "And," she continued, "On friday, I mean, comon. What if you thought your best friend was dead, and then he turned out not to be? What was the correct response to such an event? Smiling, waving hello, and getting on with life?"

Brandy hesitated, "Yeah, I guess I can see your point. Okay, thanks for answering my question, Sam!" The line disconnected.

"Alright, we're actually running out of time, but we've got one more call for you," Tiffany said. "You're on the air."

"Oh. My. Gosh! Ghost Boy? Can you hear me?" a familiar spanish accent nearly shouted, and Sam groaned, dropping her head into her hand.

"Uh...Paulina?" Danny guessed correctly, only to be met with an earpiercing shriek from the other end of the line.

"You remembered my name!" She shreiked, making everyone wince.

Tiffany, sensing Danny and Sam's discomfort, cut in, "So, uh, Paulina, you had a question?"

"Oh, yes. Well, I knew before the last person called in that there was no way you were dating Sam," she sneered the name in jealousy, "But I was wondering if you do have a girlfriend."

"Uhm," Danny began, looking uncomfortable and annoyed at the same time, "No, I don't, but with my schedule and all, I really don't have time for much hanging out with Sam, let alone dating someone else."

"Oh," Paulina replied, "Well, at least I know that if you could date someone, it would obviously be me," She said triumphantly, and before Danny could protest, she hung up.

"Uhm, right," Tiffany said, trying to hide her laugh at Danny's bewildered face, "Well, that's just about all the time we have, but I'd like to thank the both of you for joining us on the show," she turned to the camera, "And we'll see you next time!" She rushed out the last part to keep from being cut off by the end credits.

When the 'On Air' was turned safely off, Tiffany turned to her two guests.

"Well, that was certainly interesting!" She smiled as Danny shook his head, unconciously taking Sam's hand again as they stood up to shake Tiffany's hand. "You both did really great. It was by far the most fun I've had on this show."

"Yeah, 'interesting' is certainly a commonly used term for us," Sam smiled.

"Well, it was really nice having you two. And also, at the end of every month, we have a party with all the guests we had on the show that month. Are you two interested in coming?"

Sam nodded as Danny replied, "Yeah, sounds good. Uhm, would we be allowed to bring a couple of our friends?" He asked, thinking of Tucker and Jazz.

"Of course. We'll send the invitations out in about a week, alright?" Danny and Sam both nodded as they made their way backstage.

Upon finding the exit to the studio, they both realized that leaving by those means would be highly impossible. Sighing, Danny turned them both invisible and intangible, and they ran through all the reporters and all the way home.

* * *

****

A/N: Okay, yeah, a week overdue, but I couldn't write last weekend, and weekends are my only bit of free time. What else is new?

And, of course, it was a terrible ending to the chapter, but I really would've wanted to run through the reporters like that. It's sort of like mocking them in a way, but I didn't know how else to word it, so it came out like that.

Thanks for sticking with me! God Bless!

-chris


	18. Author's note

Hey guys!

See, I'm actually having a bit of trouble on the site. See, for a while, I wasn't checking the site cause I wasn't getting e-mails telling me about updates, so I figured there weren't any. Then I started to wonder if there was a problem, making it so people couldn't update. I was gonna try to update a couple weeks ago, but I wasn't sure it was going to work...And then I realized that everyone _was_ able to update, I just wasn't getting any e-mails. Let's just say I felt pretty stupid. I guess you all must be pretty annoyed with me...Anyways, I'm not sure I should update if no one's gonna get it. I'm kinda technologically impaired, and while I'd gotten pretty used to the site, as soon as something goes wrong, I'm sorta useless. If anyone who reads this could just send me a review (I don't know if PMs will work, but if they do, go for it) and help me out a bit, that would be extremely helpful. I only need one person, just to make sure you all got this and maybe to explain if they know anything about what's going on? Thanks for your patience! I feel so stupid right now! Thanks for putting up with me!

-chris


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